tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/anti-doping-31274/articlesAnti-doping – The Conversation2023-03-31T11:22:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029572023-03-31T11:22:30Z2023-03-31T11:22:30ZWhat went wrong in Peter Bol’s doping case? A sport integrity expert explains<p>Lawyers for Australian 800-metre star Peter Bol say allegations the runner engaged in doping <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/catastrophic-blunder-independent-testing-reveals-peter-bol-did-not-use-epo-20230328-p5cvre.html">should be dropped</a> after two independent labs found no evidence he used a banned substance.</p>
<p>Bol has always strongly denied the allegations.</p>
<p>So what went wrong?</p>
<h2>How we got here</h2>
<p>Bol is a national champion, Commonwealth Games silver medallist, and finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. </p>
<p>He was provisionally suspended from the sport in January 2023 after testing suggested he was using a banned substance called “synthetic EPO”.</p>
<p>EPO stands for erythropoietin, which occurs naturally in the body. It’s secreted in the kidney, and stimulates red blood cell production in bone marrow.</p>
<p>Synthetic EPO (or rEPO) is made in a lab, and is known to enhance athletic performance. It was most famously <a href="https://www.usada.org/wp-content/uploads/ReasonedDecision.pdf">abused by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/lance-armstrong-charged-with-blood-doping-and-epo-use-so-how-do-they-work-7666">Lance Armstrong charged with 'blood doping' and EPO-use ... so how do they work? </a>
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<p>On October 11 2022, Bol provided an out-of-competition urine sample which was analysed for a range of prohibited substances, including synthetic EPO.</p>
<p>The timing is important. While athletes seeking to cheat commonly use prohibited substances in the off-season to increase their training load, Bol <a href="https://7news.com.au/sport/thats-when-i-knew-peter-bol-reveals-unseen-side-of-positive-drug-test-in-exclusive-interview-with-7news-spotlight-c-9926503">suggested</a> this date is outside of the time when an athlete could benefit from taking synthetic EPO (roughly <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7213874/">a three-month window</a>).</p>
<p>On January 10 2023, Bol was <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/athletics/for-peter-bol-the-damage-that-has-been-done-cannot-be-fully-undone-20230216-p5ckye.html">advised</a> his A-sample from October 2022 had returned a positive result for synthetic EPO, and was provisionally suspended.</p>
<p>Bol was also told that another previous sample that had been analysed for EPO, collected at some time in 2021, had returned an <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/bol-says-his-provisional-suspension-has-been-lifted-20230214-p5cke3.html">uncertain result</a>.</p>
<p>Bol’s team believes this is evidence the athlete may have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/feb/15/peter-bol-what-does-an-atypical-doping-test-result-mean-for-the-australian-athlete">naturally occurring high levels of EPO</a>, which may have been wrongly interpreted as synthetic EPO.</p>
<p>Bol requested the B-sample from 2022 be analysed.</p>
<p>On February 14 2023, Sport Integrity Australia <a href="https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/sites/default/files/SIA%20-%20Media%20Statement%20-Statement%20on%20the%20Peter%20Bol%20matter.pdf">found</a> the B-sample returned an atypical result (not positive or negative, but an indication further investigation is required).</p>
<p>Bol’s provisional suspension was lifted, but Sport Integrity Australia said the investigation “remains ongoing”.</p>
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<h2>Natural vs synthetic EPO</h2>
<p>An athlete is unable to take whatever is left of their original urine sample to have it retested by another lab.</p>
<p>Athletes can, however, be provided with the data, photographs and detailed documentation of the procedure followed by the lab, known as the “lab pack”. The athlete then needs to find an expert to translate the complex documentation.</p>
<p>Two independent labs analysed Bol’s lab pack.</p>
<p>One was David Chen, Professor of Chemistry at the University of British Columbia, and the other was a group of four experts from Norway.</p>
<p>Both assert there was <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/it-wasn-t-racism-it-was-incompetence-peter-bol-on-botched-doping-case-20230329-p5cwew.html">no evidence</a> of synthetic EPO in Bol’s sample.</p>
<p>The Norwegian group <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/it-wasn-t-racism-it-was-incompetence-peter-bol-on-botched-doping-case-20230329-p5cwew.html">found</a> “a large amount of natural EPO” in Bol’s sample, and hypothesised his atypical result may be due to high naturally occurring levels of EPO. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://7news.com.au/sport/thats-when-i-knew-peter-bol-reveals-unseen-side-of-positive-drug-test-in-exclusive-interview-with-7news-spotlight-c-9926503">an interview with Channel 7</a> in early March, Bol speculated it could be a Sudanese gift: </p>
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<p>It’s in our genetics, of course. We’re fitter, we’re faster, we’re more resilient because of how much we’ve been through and gone through. It’s our genetics, it’s who we are. We can get back in shape pretty fast; [it] doesn’t mean we’re cheating. It’s how we’re born.</p>
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<p>While there have been <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23095132/">studies</a> on the effect of ethnicity in patients receiving synthetic EPO treatment, it’s not known whether there are ethnic variations in EPO production among elite athletes.</p>
<p>There are different ways of manufacturing synthetic EPO, and the source materials vary too. So identifying variations in what’s within the “normal” range and what’s synthetic EPO becomes increasingly difficult.</p>
<p>Synthetic EPO is also made by legitimate manufacturers, as it’s used to help some patients with <a href="http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/5179/1/281.pdf">chronic anaemia</a> (who don’t have enough healthy red blood cells).</p>
<p>Research suggests even legitimate products can <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ndt/article/22/10/2749/1832304">vary significantly</a>, let alone what’s produced on the black market.</p>
<p>The different methods of manufacturing synthetic EPO appear to be causing issues with identifying synthetic EPO, and in interpreting the results of analyses.</p>
<p>It’s possible, then, that naturally occurring EPO could (incorrectly) appear as though it’s a variation of one of the synthetic EPO products.</p>
<h2>A ‘catastrophic blunder’?</h2>
<p>Bol’s legal team, <a href="https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/athletics/catastrophic-blunder-independent-testing-reveals-peter-bol-did-not-use-epo-20230328-p5cvre.html">in a letter</a> to Sport Integrity Australia, said “inexperience and incompetence at the Australian Sports Drug Testing Laboratory (ASDTL) led to an incorrect determination”, accusing Sport Integrity Australia of making a “catastrophic blunder”.</p>
<p>David Chen, from the University of British Columbia, suggested the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) method for testing for synthetic EPO needs to be amended, including for the amount of urine used in the analysis. Under WADA’s <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/2021_wada_code.pdf">rules</a>, it is possible to challenge the validity of the tests. </p>
<p>Quoted in the letter, Chen <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/catastrophic-blunder-independent-testing-reveals-peter-bol-did-not-use-epo-20230328-p5cvre.html">said</a> all tests performed for Bol used 15ml of urine, but that “an experienced lab person should have understood that this was the upper limit”.</p>
<p>While this means the lab followed WADA guidelines, Chen’s concern is that “for many athletes, this amount is too high”.</p>
<p>What’s not explained in the letter, in what is publicly available at least, is why 15ml of urine is too much for “many athletes”.</p>
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<p>Technically, the investigation into Bol could be closed on the basis the B-sample didn’t confirm the A-sample, so the evidence may be insufficient to comfortably establish a doping violation. </p>
<p>However, Sport Integrity Australia will undoubtedly be as keen as Bol and his team to get to the bottom of this. </p>
<p>It’s important for all athletes, and for trust in the anti-doping system, that the validity of the EPO test and the interpretation of the analysis can be transparently relied on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Ordway was an employee of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) between 2006 and 2008. </span></em></p>It’s important for all athletes, and for trust in the anti-doping system, that the validity of the EPO test and the interpretation of the analysis can be transparently relied on.Catherine Ordway, Associate Professor Sport Management and Sport Integrity Lead, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1624272021-06-28T01:45:47Z2021-06-28T01:45:47ZWhy Shayna Jack is likely to successfully defend her doping ban appeal — but still won’t be at the Tokyo Olympics<p>Despite the excitement of the <a href="https://www.swimming.org.au/events/2021-australian-swimming-trials">Australian swimming trials</a> to determine which athletes will go to the Tokyo Olympics, it was still hard to overlook the absence of swimmer Shayna Jack.</p>
<p>Jack is a 22-year-old Australian swimming star. She has <a href="https://www.fina.org/athletes/1020778/shayna-jack/medals">represented Australia</a> at the world championships and the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where she was part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team that won gold and set a new world record.</p>
<p>Jack <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-28/shayna-jack-reveals-banned-substance-ligandrol/11354742">tested positive</a> for the banned substance Ligandrol before the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. Her four-year ban was reduced to two years, but the World Anti-Doping Agency and Sports Integrity Australia <a href="https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/news/media-statements/2020-12/sport-integrity-australia-lodge-appeal-shayna-jack-case">have appealed</a> that decision and are seeking to have the four-year ban reinstated. </p>
<p>The appeal hearing begins today. Even if Jack successfully defends the appeal, her two-year period of ineligibility ends in July. This is before the Olympics begin, but just after the Australian swimming trials. </p>
<p>This means no matter what happens, Jack cannot compete in Tokyo.</p>
<h2>Background of the case</h2>
<p>Much has been written in the media about Jack’s doping ban. This reporting is seldom incorrect, though it often omits key details that make her case difficult to fully appreciate.</p>
<p>Here’s the background. In June 2019, Jack participated in an out-of-competition drug test. A month later, she was informed she had returned a positive result for <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-ligandrol-the-drug-swimmer-shayna-jack-had-in-her-system-121097#:%7E:text=Ligandrol%2520is%2520taken%2520orally%2520as,androgen%2520receptor%2520modulator%2520(SARM).&text=This%2520means%2520Ligandrol%2520works%2520in,typically%2520have%2520fewer%2520side%2520effects.">Ligandrol</a>, which works in a similar way to testosterone and anabolic steroids, but with fewer side effects. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-ligandrol-the-drug-swimmer-shayna-jack-had-in-her-system-121097">What is Ligandrol, the drug swimmer Shayna Jack had in her system?</a>
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<p>In December 2019, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (now Sports Integrity Australia) issued an infraction notice, informing Jack she would be ineligible to compete and train with other swimmers for four years.</p>
<p>Last November, Alan Sullivan QC, an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), ruled a four-year ban was <a href="https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Award_A1_2020__FINAL__for_publication.pdf">not the appropriate sanction</a>, on the basis that Jack’s violation was not <em>intentionally</em> committed. </p>
<p>Jack has been unwavering in her assertion she would never take a performance enhancing drug knowingly. The difficulty for her is that she has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/nov/24/blender-may-be-drugs-source-says-banned-swimmer-shayna-jack?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1606176382">never been able to show how</a> the Ligandrol entered her system.</p>
<h2>Negligent versus unintentional rule violations</h2>
<p>We believe Jack will be successful in having the appeal dismissed. Our conclusion is based on our belief she is telling the truth about her inadvertent ingestion of Ligandrol, combined with Sullivan’s legally sound arbitral decision in the CAS.</p>
<p>In the original CAS hearing, Jack’s lawyer argued her four-year ban should be overturned on the basis there was “no fault or negligence” on her behalf. </p>
<p>Establishing “no fault or negligence” is very hard to do. According to the <a href="https://www.swimming.org.au/sites/default/files/assets/documents/Swimming%20Australia%20-%20Anti%20Doping%20Policy%20-%2010%20August%202020.pdf">Swimming Australia Policy</a>, this requires athletes to prove they “could not reasonably have known or suspected even with the exercise of utmost caution” they violated an anti-doping rule. </p>
<p>In addition, when a prohibited substance is detected, athletes must establish how it entered their bodies. As Jack could not establish how the Ligandrol entered her system, she was not able to overturn her ban on this ground.</p>
<p>However, athletes can have a ban reduced from four to two years if they can establish the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional. This is what Jack’s lawyer argued, and her sanction was ultimately reduced.</p>
<p>The complication in Jack’s case was whether she had to establish how the Ligandrol entered her body in order to prove (on the balance of probabilities) that she did not take the substance intentionally.</p>
<p>The precise wording of the Swimming Australia Policy was key here: it does not explicitly require an athlete to establish the source of a prohibited substance when proving the violation was not intentional. This is a requirement only when proving “no fault or negligence” with respect to an anti-doping violation.</p>
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<h2>Key points in the appeal</h2>
<p>Previous CAS panels have produced conflicting decisions on this point.</p>
<p>The arbitrator in the Jack case relied on two <a href="https://jurisprudence.tas-cas.org/Shared%20Documents/4534.pdf">previous</a> <a href="https://www.doping.nl/media/kb/6463/CAS%25202019_A_6313%2520Jarrion%2520Lawson%2520vs%2520IAAF%2520(OS).pdf">decisions</a> to rule in her favour.</p>
<p>In the first case — filed by Peruvian swimmer <a href="https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/mauricio-fiol-gets-four-year-ban-for-pan-am-positive-doping-test/">Mauricio Fiol Villanueva</a> — the CAS panel made clear that when an athlete cannot establish the source of a prohibited substance, it leaves the “narrowest of corridors” through which he or she could argue the violation was not intentional. According to the panel, such cases would be extremely rare.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sun-yang-ban-shows-world-swimming-body-must-establish-an-integrity-commission-132738">Sun Yang ban shows world swimming body must establish an integrity commission</a>
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<p>The outcome of Jack’s CAS appeal rests on whether her case is one of these rare instances. Therefore, the <a href="https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Award_A1_2020__FINAL__for_publication.pdf">factors</a> that convinced Sullivan to reduce her ban will likely be key:</p>
<p>1) Jack was considered to be an articulate and impressive witness. She did not manufacture a story as to how the Ligandrol entered her system. She simply claimed she did not know. Sullivan described her as <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/olympics/australian-swimmer-shayna-jack-earned-high-praise-from-authorities-after-her-ban-was-halved/news-story/676926616ec2359b9e34c868f01c97ff">one of the most impressive witnesses</a> he had seen in 40 years of legal practice.</p>
<p>2) Her testimony also showed she was a diligent athlete who followed all protocols from the swimming governing body and anti-doping authorities.</p>
<p>3) Numerous character witnesses were also persuasive, including coaches, doctors, officials, and other athletes. These included statements from Cate and Bronte Campbell, who were teammates of Jack’s in the freestyle relay event and her competitors in individual events.</p>
<p>4) Jack had never received a positive drug result before. She was tested on ten previous occasions between February 2018 and June 2019.</p>
<p>5) Jack <a href="https://au.gofundme.com/f/help-swimmer-shayna-jack-continue-to-fight">spent considerable money and time</a> attempting to ascertain the source of the Ligandrol.</p>
<p>6) The amount of Ligandrol found in her sample was classified as “low”, and considered to be <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-08/shayna-jacks-fight-against-doping-ban/13061456">pharmacologically irrelevant</a>. It would have no performance enhancing effects at this level.</p>
<p>7) There was no evidence of any long-term use of a prohibited substance.</p>
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<p>The World Anti-Doping Agency and Sports Integrity Australia have brought their appeal, based on the need for clarity in applying anti-doping principles to cases of inadvertent doping. It is unfortunate for Jack that the facts of her case represent an excellent opportunity to test some of these legal principles.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162427/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Athletes can have a ban reduced from four to two years if they can establish an anti-doping rule violation was not intentional. This is the key point in Jack’s case.James Duffy, Associate Professor, Queensland University of TechnologyJohn O'Brien, Associate Lecturer, School of Law, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1583892021-04-13T12:42:36Z2021-04-13T12:42:36ZWhy student athletes need a new playbook to stay safe in the COVID-19 era<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394410/original/file-20210412-15-tg9yf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=632%2C265%2C3822%2C2479&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">High school water polo player Cami Rowan gets to work out in the home pool in Corona, Calif. on Feb. 18, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/high-school-water-polo-player-cami-rowan-gets-to-work-out-news-photo/1231256506?adppopup=true">Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kids are eager to play ball, and parents are eager to be back on the sidelines supporting them. But <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/06/youth-sports-outbreaks-covid-testing/">COVID-19 cases have risen</a> in places where kids have been playing sports, complicating the issue. </p>
<p>Michigan, where I live, is now the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/michigan-leads-us-with-highest-number-of-covid-19-cases-per-capita/vi-BB1fk41b">epicenter of COVID-19 cases</a> in the U.S. The resumption of youth sports activities has been widely implicated in Michigan’s latest COVID-19 surge, with <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-michigan-cases-spike-kids/">40% of new outbreaks</a> occurring in K-12 schools or youth programs.</p>
<p>Experts also blame Michigan’s unprecedented rise to the top on an unfortunate mixture of reopening, <a href="https://www.wilx.com/2021/04/07/covid-19-numbers-continue-to-surge-with-michigan-not-slowing-down/">virus variants and COVID-19 fatigue</a>.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://education.wayne.edu/profile/gr7894">exercise scientist and clinician</a>, I believe that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2012.02.007">sports participation</a> – and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s41256-018-0068-9">even watching sports</a> – has health and social benefits which far exceed winning and losing. My physiologist brain, however, argues that at this very moment, people should be focusing their energy not against each other, but rather toward defeating the world’s deadliest team: SARS-CoV-2, or, if you will, Team Coronavirus. </p>
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<img alt="Two teenagers practicing volleyball." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394415/original/file-20210412-23-tibnu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394415/original/file-20210412-23-tibnu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394415/original/file-20210412-23-tibnu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394415/original/file-20210412-23-tibnu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394415/original/file-20210412-23-tibnu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394415/original/file-20210412-23-tibnu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394415/original/file-20210412-23-tibnu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Teens practiced volleyball in Gilbert, Ariz. on March 25, 2020, shortly after schools shut down there.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakArizona/a8fc51bb049a462b817d2618be427c7d/photo?Query=kids%20playing%20sports%20coronavirus&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=10&currentItemNo=5">Matt York/AP</a></span>
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<h2>Humans as the underdog</h2>
<p>Parents in Michigan have started a group called <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/let-them-play-ca-settles-lawsuit-all-sports-allowed-to-return/ar-BB1efjnT">Let Them Play Michigan</a> to press the issue. Specifically, the group opposes mandatory weekly testing of student athletes, which the state requires, and quarantining of young athletes who test positive.</p>
<p>Recently, Let Them Play Michigan <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/youth-sports-lawsuit-could-cut-mandatory-testing-and-quarantine-from-michigan-schools/ar-BB1ftdTL">filed a lawsuit</a> against the state of Michigan to ease mandatory testing restrictions in high school athletes, arguing that the state health department does not have the authority to issue these restrictions.</p>
<p>I still consider myself an athlete, even though jogging three miles a day is a low performance bar. That’s why at an emotional level, the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/let-them-play-ca-settles-lawsuit-all-sports-allowed-to-return/ar-BB1efjnT">Let Them Play</a> youth sports movement touches my heart, since athletes resent anything that keeps them off the field, court or pitch.</p>
<p>So I suggest public health experts, parents and other stakeholders consider the issue through the lens of sports – Team People against Team Coronavirus. Team Coronavirus is focused solely on winning (survival) and will seize upon any <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41385-020-00340-z">mammal</a> with properly fitting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-00771-8">ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme 2), liver heparin or other receptors high in sialic acid</a>. Once Team Coronavirus invades a cell’s nucleus, the virus delivers instructions to replicate, particularly within lung and upper airway cells. </p>
<p>Once a person is infected, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30484-9">millions</a> of coronavirus particles can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0026360">spew out</a> of an infected host’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30484-9">nose and mouth</a> with every breath, cough, sneeze or word spoken. It can even exit through the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/gastro/goaa067">rectum</a>. The SARS-CoV-2 virus can also enter our bodies through the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2021.01.017">mucous membranes of our eyes</a>, as fast as cutting an onion can make us cry. </p>
<p>A particularly daunting skill set of Team Coronavirus is its ability to change shape and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.013">evade the Team People’s defense, or immune, system</a>. So think of it like a new team taking the court after half-time. Not only have the players never seen this team, but the coaches haven’t seen the films. </p>
<p>The possibility that Team Coronavirus can hide undetected within tissue reservoirs, such as in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-020-00771-8">brain</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101642">nervous system</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2021.01.017">eyes</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamacardio.2020.3551">heart</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.16532">lungs</a>, is another under-recognized skill of SARS-CoV-2. Scientists hypothesize that this ability may contribute to its persistence in both <a href="https://doi.org/%2010.1056/NEJMoa2001316">acute</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01283-z">chronic</a> disease states, such as long haulers’ COVID-19. </p>
<p>Given our current understanding of Team Coronavirus’ expanding playbook, is it possible to safely let kids play sports during a pandemic, without some restrictions?</p>
<h2>The NBA did it, but at a high cost</h2>
<p>The success of the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/10/20/report-nbas-bubble-prevented-15-billion-in-losses/?sh=1a0db5e43823">NBA Bubble</a> demonstrates that competitive sports can be performed safely – and without vaccines – by adhering to strict safety protocols. That includes rigorous – meaning daily – testing, isolation and quarantine measures. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_NBA_Bubble">financial cost</a> of allowing 22 NBA teams to compete over about 100 days was about US$190 million, with additional, intangible <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/lebron-james-admits-he-s-thought-about-leaving-bubble/ar-BB18w5b2">mental health and emotional costs</a> experienced by players and coaches. </p>
<p>However, the bubble clearly showed that Team Coronavirus can be defeated, but with significant personal and financial sacrifice.</p>
<p>The irony of the youth sports movement, as detailed in the current <a href="https://www.wilx.com/2021/04/02/let-them-play-group-files-lawsuit-against-michigan-due-to-mandatory-athlete-testing/">Let Them Play Michigan lawsuit</a>, is the unsportsmanlike intention to cut corners on the evidenced-based safety measures in order for the kids to play. Adults filing the lawsuit on kids’ behalf are suggesting that weekly testing is too much, or that quarantining if an infection is found is too onerous. This parental response may be because kids are complaining. </p>
<p>Adults cannot let kids make these decisions. Despite the best of intentions, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.31509">adolescents are poor judges of health risks</a>. Sure, they may not want to accept weekly COVID-19 testing, but adults need to make sure they follow the rules. The NBA’s experience shows that testing should be an essential part of the rules.</p>
<p>One of Team Coronavirus’ most devastating offensive plays is its invisibility, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.35057">asymptomatic spread</a>. Regular COVID-19 testing, as a major defensive strategy, identifies genetic material from Team Coronavirus so that any infected players can promptly be removed from play, limiting the spread of COVID-19 by removing their best players – superspreaders with high viral loads. This is why quarantining is so important. </p>
<p>Another highly effective defensive strategy against Team Coronavirus is covering both mouths and noses with masks to limit the airborne transfer of viral particles between players. The argument that masks are ineffective is true when face masks are not worn correctly (as widely seen around the chin).</p>
<p>If regular testing and wearing masks during games could save the life of a beloved <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/sports/nbcsports/college-football-player-jamain-stephens-jr-dies-after-complications-from-covid-19/2413981/">football player</a>, fellow <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/29/us/college-student-dies-covid.html">basketball-playing exercise science student</a> or collegiate <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/alabama-basketball-fans-death-prompts-covid-19-contact/story?id=76860269">March Madness superfan</a>, how can parents and coaches not consider such minor inconveniences to save a coach’s, parent’s or teammate’s life?</p>
<p>Every COVID-19 death is preventable. Every loss, unconscionable. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">CDC Director Rochelle Walensky discusses youth sports and coronavirus spread.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Going into overtime</h2>
<p>One scary consequence of COVID-19 is the potential for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01283-z">long-lasting disability</a> in those infected with SARS-CoV-2. While people itching for normalcy may think of an attack by Team Coronavirus as a “one-and-done” affair, post-infective fatigue, mental debility, neuralgia and psychoses are just getting started in patients with long-haul cases. </p>
<p>A growing body of evidence suggests that recovery from asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID-19 may be associated with residual <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamacardio.2020.4916">inflammation around the heart</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.00897.2020">impairment of blood flow</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.14.20212555">multi-organ impairment</a> (brain, lungs, kidney, liver, pancreas and spleen), <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.24.20238261">sustained fatigue and exercise intolerance</a>.</p>
<p>This post-COVID-19 syndrome is recognized as “<a href="https://doi.org/%2010.1001/jama.2020.17709">long-haulers</a>” syndrome worldwide and causes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2020.10.009">neurologic dysfunction</a> and debilitating fatigue in both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240784">young adults</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.15673">children</a>. </p>
<p>The SARS epidemic from 2003 provides a cautionary tale. In fact, 40.3% of patients who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-1 faced chronic fatigue, and 42.5% experienced psychiatric illness <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2009.384">up to four years later</a>. </p>
<h2>Let them play, but with firm rules in place</h2>
<p>The question for parents, public health officials and school officials is: How do we let kids play and keep them safe? I believe there are ways to do this.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Get tested regularly.</p></li>
<li><p>Wear masks properly – block virus transmission by covering both the mouth and nose.</p></li>
<li><p>Embrace shared sacrifice.</p></li>
<li><p>Support one another – sustained sacrifice is hard, so work together and check in regularly with teammates.</p></li>
<li><p>Play outside – or have adequate ventilation inside to disperse viral particles.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.040">Get vaccinated</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>As current underdogs, athletes, coaches, parents and fans need to dig deep, embrace discomfort and beat this virus once and for all.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tamara Hew-Butler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kids want to play sports again, and who can blame them? An exercise scientist and physiologist explains why adhering to safety protocols is imperative.Tamara Hew-Butler, Associate Professor of Exercise and Sports Science, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1327382020-03-01T04:26:52Z2020-03-01T04:26:52ZSun Yang ban shows world swimming body must establish an integrity commission<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317900/original/file-20200301-24694-da46xd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/EPA/Patrick B. Kraemer</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the announcement that China’s Sun Yang has been banned from swimming for eight years, <a href="http://www.fina.org/">FINA</a>, the world governing swimming body, must take stock of how it oversees one of the most popular and high-profile of the Olympic sports ahead of this year’s Tokyo games.</p>
<p>It would now seem obvious that, taking the lead from <a href="https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/">athletics</a> and <a href="https://www.tennisintegrityunit.com/">tennis</a>, FINA should establish an independent integrity unit to investigate and prosecute doping and similar offences.</p>
<p>In a decision announced Friday, the Court of Arbitration (CAS), sport’s self-styled world supreme court, confirmed that Sun would be banned from competitive swimming for <a href="https://www.tas-cas.org/en/general-information/news-detail/article/sun-yang-is-found-guilty-of-a-doping-offense-and-sanctioned-with-an-8-year-period-of-ineligibility.html">eight years</a>. His swimming future now rests largely on one final avenue of appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-drug-cheats-are-still-being-caught-seven-years-after-the-2012-london-olympics-121123">Why drug cheats are still being caught seven years after the 2012 London Olympics</a>
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<p>This has always been a big global story: Sun is one of the most successful swimmers of all time, and one of China’s most beloved sports stars. A three-time Olympic gold medallist, he has 11 world championship golds, and is second only to the legendary US swimmer Michael Phelps in men’s individual events.</p>
<p>It was at last year’s world championships in Korea that silver medallist, Australia’s Mack Horton, <a href="https://theconversation.com/swimmer-protests-at-the-world-championships-renew-calls-for-urgent-anti-doping-reforms-120848">famously protested</a> against Sun, during the podium ceremony for the 400 meters freestyle.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317901/original/file-20200301-24672-pmxpjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317901/original/file-20200301-24672-pmxpjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317901/original/file-20200301-24672-pmxpjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317901/original/file-20200301-24672-pmxpjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317901/original/file-20200301-24672-pmxpjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317901/original/file-20200301-24672-pmxpjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/317901/original/file-20200301-24672-pmxpjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mack Horton (left) protested Sun Yang’s win at the world championships in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/EPA/Patrick B. Kraemer</span></span>
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<p>Horton’s protest related to the fact that Sun, having previously served a three-month ban <a href="https://theconversation.com/snubbing-chinese-swimmer-sun-yang-ignores-the-flaws-in-the-anti-doping-system-120895">for a doping infraction</a> in 2014, had been involved in an incident with doping control officers in September 2018.</p>
<p>Having given a sample to the testers at his home, Sun became concerned about their conduct and accreditation. This concern eventually led to the vial containing Sun sample being smashed by one of the swimmer’s entourage.</p>
<p>Initially, Sun’s behaviour in this case merely attracted a reprimand. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-21/sun-yang-doping-case-more-complicated-than-it-seems/11328364">An investigation carried out by FINA</a> concluded that, although Sun’s actions were incautious, they could be justified given the testers’ grave procedural errors and misconduct.</p>
<p>The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the global body for anti-doping standards, later took the view that FINA’s approach was overly lenient. WADA appealed to CAS and a <a href="https://vimeo.com/373204016">public hearing</a> was held in Switzerland in November.</p>
<p>Having deliberated on what they heard at that eleventh-hour hearing, which was initially marred by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-16/translation-issues-mar-sun-yang-drug-test-appeal/11710736">poor translation</a>, the three arbitrators delivered a summary of their verdict last week.</p>
<p>Basically, CAS held that the procedural concerns Sun had about the testing process in September 2018 either did not occur or were not sufficiently compelling to justify tampering with the sample container. Given this was his second anti-doping infraction, an eight-year sanction applied.</p>
<p>It must be remembered the charge against Sun is that of tampering with a sample – it is not a charge or “conviction” relating to doping. Sun’s sample taken in September 2018 was never tested, and this seems to be the reason why the arbitrators have not decided to strip him of the medals he obtained at the world championships in 2019. In this, as with other aspects of the Sun decision, we must await the publication of the arbitrators’ <a href="https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_6148_decision.pdf">full, reasoned award</a>.</p>
<p>Sun now has until the end of March to lodge an appeal at the Swiss Federal Tribunal (SFT) and <a href="https://7news.com.au/sport/olympics/chinese-swimmer-sun-yang-fumes-and-vows-to-appeal-eight-year-ban-c-721776">has already indicated</a> that he will take that option. As it happens, on various technical grounds – one relating to an unsubstantiated claim of bias against WADA’s chief lawyer – Sun’s lawyers have already been to the SFT <a href="http://sportlegis.com/2020/02/26/sun-yang-v-wada-fina-a-cas-letter-confirming-the-admissibility-of-the-appeal-is-not-an-appealable-decision-before-the-swiss-federal-tribunal/">on three separate occasions</a>. They will now likely go for a fourth time, and it is likely to end in disappointment.</p>
<p>He will not get a full re-hearing at the SFT, and the grounds of appeal will be limited to narrow procedural issues only. An example would be whether the CAS hearing in some way unfair – ironically, the fact that it was held in public at Sun’s request may tell against him here. Another consideration may be whether the sanction was disproportionate – given the eight-year ban is mandated in the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/the-code?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx5Xy3qn45wIVjxWPCh3qSgrCEAAYASAAEgIHnfD_BwE">World Anti-Doping Code</a>, this ground would likely not succeed. One final consideration may be whether the poor translation service at the CAS hearing might be a ground of appeal – again, unlikely, given that it was Sun’s legal team that hired the translator.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/snubbing-chinese-swimmer-sun-yang-ignores-the-flaws-in-the-anti-doping-system-120895">Snubbing Chinese swimmer Sun Yang ignores the flaws in the anti-doping system</a>
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<p>Arguably, Sun’s strongest point has always been the general one, outlined in the seminal CAS case of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/swimming/fairness-at-core-of-sun-yang-case-despite-headline-hysteria-20191122-p53d4r.html">Quigley v UIT</a>. It is that, while the principle of strict liability applies to athletes in anti-doping control, it should equally apply to testers to strictly comply with all administrative aspects of the anti-doping process. Whether the SFT would entertain an argument that goes right to heart of the current anti-doping policy globally is unlikely.</p>
<p>While Sun grapples with an effective end to his career and <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2020-02/wada-statement-regarding-cas-public-hearing-wada-v-sun-yang-fina">WADA</a>, unsurprisingly, feels vindicated, FINA must now reflect on its governance of its sport.</p>
<p>Lately, it has had a fractious relationship with some of its leading participants who sought successfully, on threat of litigation, to compete in a privately funded <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/aquatics/the-buzzer-international-swimming-league-explainer-1.5316563">international swimming league</a>. An integrity commission would seem a vital next step.</p>
<p>The reaction to the Sun ban <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/chinese-trolls-target-mack-horton-after-sun-yang-cas-ban-014543084.html">on social media from China</a> has been predictably ferocious. One knock-on effect of the Sun decision may be a greater focus from countries such as China and Russia on the fact that, in terms of the nationality of those appointed to hear cases, CAS, sport’s supreme court, appears to be systemically Eurocentric in nature.</p>
<p>It seems almost certain that Sun will not compete at Tokyo 2020. Attention now moves at CAS and on doping in sport to the case against <a href="https://www.tas-cas.org/en/general-information/news-detail/article/cas-procedure-between-the-world-anti-doping-agency-wada-and-the-russian-anti-doping-agency-rusada.html">Russia and its athletes</a>.</p>
<p>The reaction to the Sun verdict will be a mere ripple in a pool compared to that which will greet a similar verdict against Russia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Following the Chinese swimmer’s eight-year ban, FINA must examine its governance and follow the example set by athletics and tennis to investigate and prosecute doping.Jack Anderson, Professor of Sports Law, Melbourne Law School, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1208482019-07-24T12:59:32Z2019-07-24T12:59:32ZSwimmer protests at the World Championships renew calls for urgent anti-doping reforms<p>When Chinese swimmer Sun Yang recently won his fourth gold medal for the 400 metres freestyle alongside another gold in the 200 metres freestyle at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, his achievements were overshadowed by fellow competitors who refused to stand on the podium with him.</p>
<p>First Australian silver medallist Mack Horton in the 400 metres and then British bronze medallist <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/swimming/49088383">Duncan Scott</a> in the 200 metres freestyle. Horton and Swimming Australia have since been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/23/mack-horton-reprimanded-by-swimming-world-body-over-sun-snub">officially warned</a> by the <a href="http://www.fina.org/">international swimming federation</a> FINA, for the protest. Both athletes have also been subject to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-49079846">online abuse</a> and <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/swimming/2019/07/23/duncan-scott-sent-death-threats-refusing-stand-podium-alongside/">death threats</a> for their actions. </p>
<p>This is not the first time Horton has <a href="https://theconversation.com/horton-wins-by-naming-the-elephant-in-the-room-at-rio-olympics-63661">protested against Yang</a>, who was <a href="https://10daily.com.au/news/sport/a190724bpvks/this-is-why-people-are-booing-champion-chinese-swimmer-sun-yang-20190724">previously been suspended</a> by the China Anti-Doping Agency in 2014 – and is under investigation again after Yang’s bodyguard allegedly smashed his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/sports/sun-yang-swimming-doping.html">blood vial sample with a hammer</a> during an out-of-competition doping test at <a href="http://www.china.org.cn/sports/2019-01/28/content_74416396.htm">Yang’s home in China</a>. Yang <a href="https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/sun-yang-facing-lifetime-ban-after-incident-with-drug-testers/">said</a> the incident happened because he believed the doping control officer was not properly accredited. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-21/sun-yang-doping-case-more-complicated-than-it-seems/11328364">FINA tribunal</a> has since ruled that, although smashing blood vials is not advisable, Yang did not commit an anti-doping rule violation as the officer was not fully qualified. But the World Anti-Doping Agency has not accepted these findings and is currently appealing the case <a href="https://10daily.com.au/news/sport/a190724bpvks/this-is-why-people-are-booing-champion-chinese-swimmer-sun-yang-20190724">in the Court of Arbitration for Sport</a>.</p>
<p>The incident has renewed suspicions about Yang, who previously served a three month suspension in 2014 for the prohibited substance trimetazidine. This is a stimulant usually used to treat patients suffering from angina. Yang claimed he was unaware the drug had been added to the banned list, and had been using it since 2008 to <a href="https://10daily.com.au/news/sport/a190724bpvks/this-is-why-people-are-booing-champion-chinese-swimmer-sun-yang-20190724">treat heart palpitations</a>.</p>
<h2>Varying testing conditions</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.3aw.com.au/podium-protest-aussie-swimmer-mack-horton-refuses-to-stand-next-accused-cheat-sun-yang/">Horton’s dad has spoken out to explain that</a> the protests from his son and others came from frustration at the perceived lack of consistency internationally in the way athletes are treated when it comes to testing. </p>
<p>This is in part due to the fact that the World Anti-Doping Agency relies on <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/the-code/code-signatories">World Anti-Doping Code signatories</a>, such as international federations and national anti-doping organisations, to implement and enforce the rules. Yet, between signatories there is disparity in the resources available, technical expertise and commitment. This means that athletes in different regions are subject to varying testing conditions.</p>
<p>Research has shown the impact this disparity can have on the views of athletes. A study of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1441352315000819">645 elite Danish athletes</a>, for example, found that 85% of them believed that “doping control is downgraded [by officials] in certain countries because medals have higher priority”. Almost half of the athletes also believed that “doping control in other countries is sometimes so unprofessional that it is possible to cheat”. </p>
<p>And as the case of Yang and Horton highlights, this difference in anti-doping conditions between nations can lead to a sense of injustice between athletes. It can also impact how athletes feel about testing in rival nations.</p>
<h2>Innocent until proven guilty?</h2>
<p>It appears then that Yang’s high-profile success has made him a symbolic target for frustration at the system. But it also shows how the label of drugs cheat is not easily shaken off. </p>
<p>Indeed, US sprinter Justin Gatlin served two separate bans for doping and was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/40842008">booed at the 2017 World Championships</a>. Likewise, some still have suspicions about British cyclist Chris Froome after it was leaked that he had produced an adverse analytical finding, even though he was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jul/02/chris-froome-cleared-by-uci-in-anti-doping-investigation">later cleared</a> of any wrongdoing. Yang also seems to be subject to the same treatment.</p>
<p>Burden of proof on the prosecutor, and rehabilitation through punishment are characteristics of democratic societies. Yet when it comes to doping, it appears athletes remain chastised by competitors and the public – even after serving bans. Suspicions can even remain in place for those who have been found <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cycling/tour-de-france-2018-team-sky-thomas-froome-general-classification-punch-fans-video-a8465856.html">not guilty</a>. </p>
<p>Yang served his previous suspension and was found innocent of any wrongdoing by FINA. So in smashing his blood test and questioning the accreditation of the officer, he did not demand anything that is not expected in any other facet of society – that authorities follow correct procedure. </p>
<p>Indeed, every athlete should have the right to be treated according to correct procedure given the severe repercussions of anti-doping rule violations. And Yang’s case highlights the need to reevaluate how we protect those accused of anti-doping violations as well as how to rehabilitate athletes. </p>
<h2>The athlete movement</h2>
<p>There has been pressure on the World Anti-Doping Agency from multiple sportspeople and organisations to increase the input of athletes in anti-doping governance. British Paralympian Ali Jawad, for example, released <a href="https://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/rio-2016-silver-medalist-ali-jawad-unveils-athlete-led-proposals-for-logical-and-pragmatic-governance-reform-of-world-anti-doping-agency/">The Alternative</a>, a document setting out his proposal World Anti-Doping Agency governance reforms. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://athletescan.com/en/governments-athletes-and-anti-doping-organizations-call-reforms-after-emergency-summit-white-house">AthletesCan</a>, the organisation responsible for representing Canadian athletes, the <a href="https://www.ukad.org.uk/news/article/anti-doping-leaders-unite-with-international-athlete-community-in-calling-f">National Anti-Doping Organisations</a> and <a href="https://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/statement-by-global-athletes-on-continued-criticism-by-wada-against-the-worlds-athletes-and-other-anti-doping-reformers/">The Reformers</a>, an international collective of politically active athletes, have all released statements demanding greater representation for athletes. </p>
<p>Given then the support Horton has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/22/mack-horton-accused-of-disrespecting-china-after-protesting-sun-yangs-win">received from other swimmers</a>, such protests exemplify the need for increased athlete representation on the World Anti-Doping executive committee to make decisions on their behalf. </p>
<p>The World Anti-Doping Agency has acknowledged this and said it is willing to <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2018-11/wada-foundation-board-approves-wide-ranging-governance-reform">strengthen the athlete voice</a> in decision making. But that this will only happen when athletes can determine a method to nominate a representative that adequately represents the cultural and sporting diversity of athletes under the World Anti-Doping Agency umbrella. Which is clearly quite the task, given the issue is so fraught with geopolitical tensions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Read does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why swimmers are protesting against China’s Sun Yang at the World Championships.Daniel Read, PhD Candidate at the Institute for Sport Business, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1123492019-03-18T10:49:24Z2019-03-18T10:49:24ZWhistleblowing: athletes shouldn’t have to choose between their careers and the truth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263620/original/file-20190313-123551-1d196bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Athletes should not feel like they have to choose between their careers or telling the truth about doping in sport. Yet, our <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329580258_The_process_isn't_a_case_of_report_it_and_stop_Athletes'_lived_experience_of_whistleblowing_on_doping_in_sport">new research</a> shows that this is (too) often the reality for many involved in the sporting world. Telling the truth isn’t always rewarded. Instead, speaking up – whistleblowing – is too often followed by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/nov/15/anti-doping-whistleblowers-iaaf-wada">retribution</a>.</p>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>Our new research shows that whistleblowing on doping in elite sport can (and does) come at a cost to the whistleblower. As we discovered, for both US and UK doping whistleblowers, coming forward with information requires ongoing personal sacrifice – emotional, financial and relational.</p>
<p>Contrary to common belief, whistleblowing on doping is generally not a simple matter of report and move on. Rather, it is a series of steps – each accompanied by complex decisions – that exist from the moment of witnessing the questionable behaviour to well beyond the act of actually whistleblowing. </p>
<p>We spoke to three people who had reported doping in elite sport to gather insights into their unique whistleblowing experiences. Collectively, their accounts stressed that whistleblowing is a process that is often accompanied by myriad consequences consequences for the whistleblower. </p>
<h2>The difficulties</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/doping-why-some-athletes-are-reluctant-to-speak-out-79862">Previous research</a> shows that athletes are generally hesitant to report doping despite being opposed to personally using banned substances. As an athlete, do you report doping behaviour to protect the integrity of sport, or keep quiet to protect a fellow sportsperson’s career, reputation and well-being?</p>
<p>Most athletes avoid publicly consuming illegal substances or engaging with banned methods. So doping whistleblowers do not necessarily have direct evidence of a specific doping incident. Instead, they are often privy to a series of incidents or events that collectively equate to doping. </p>
<p>The (potential) whistleblower therefore has to connect the dots and determine that the act(s) has indeed broken anti-doping rules. This on its own is challenging, but then add in the possibility that the person actually breaking the doping rules is someone you have a relationship with – and the prospect of whistleblowing becomes that much more complex. </p>
<p>Once doping has been identified, the whistleblower has to determine how and to whom they are going to report doping. Who can they trust with the information? Also, do they want to voluntarily take responsibility for (likely) altering the career trajectory of the athlete who has doped? These are weighty questions – whistleblowing on doping is complicated. Yet, sportspeople are increasingly expected to do it through such channels as the World Anti-Doping Agency’s <a href="https://speakup.wada-ama.org/WebPages/Public/FrontPages/Default.aspx">Speak Up! Platform</a>.</p>
<h2>Support needed</h2>
<p>Our research shows that whistleblowing can and does have life-altering implications for whistleblowers. The emotional burden of knowing that you have potentially ended someone’s athletic career can weigh heavy. At the same time, voluntarily risking such things as your reputation, financial stability and athletic career is a daunting prospect. It’s not surprising then that some athletes are <a href="https://theconversation.com/doping-why-some-athletes-are-reluctant-to-speak-out-79862">reluctant to speak out</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263621/original/file-20190313-123554-161mhrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263621/original/file-20190313-123554-161mhrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263621/original/file-20190313-123554-161mhrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263621/original/file-20190313-123554-161mhrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263621/original/file-20190313-123554-161mhrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263621/original/file-20190313-123554-161mhrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263621/original/file-20190313-123554-161mhrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">It must be easier for athletes to speak out, without fearing reprisals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>It is clear that further support is needed to enable more people to report doping in sport. For this to happen, whistleblowers need practical and emotional support at every step in the whistleblowing journey. Evidence-based whistleblowing policies –- with explicit protections for whistleblowers and clear guidelines on when and how to report – are a key starting point for this and should be implemented and enforced. And while anonymous reporting hotlines like the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Speak Up! platform and accompanying <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/whistleblowingprogram_policy_procedure_en.pdf">Whistleblower programme</a> are a huge step in the right direction, research has not kept pace with these advances in policy and practice</p>
<p>Whistleblower education must also be provided, signposting people to available whistleblowing platforms and how to use them – as well as informing them about their rights as whistleblowers. An independent person – such as an ombudsman – to contact for advice and support should also be offered. Providing a sport ombudsman was listed as a “priority recommendation” in the 2017 Duty of Care in Sport <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/610130/Duty_of_Care_Review_-_April_2017__2.pdf">Report</a> regarding the handling of general welfare issues in UK sport. We suggest an ombudsman should be provided to support doping whistleblowers specifically.</p>
<p>The athlete voice is getting <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/47225647">louder</a> – with athletes rallying together and demanding a say in how global sport is run. Yet, it seems the current doping whistleblowing culture is more likely to deter athletes from speaking up than encourage them. But on the positive side, athletes also hold the key to understanding what changes need to be made to shift this culture towards one that empowers whistleblowers to come forward – which will ultimately help to protect the integrity of sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelsey Erickson received funding from the World Anti-Doping Agency to conduct this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Backhouse received funding from the World Anti-Doping Agency to conduct this research.</span></em></p>Whistleblowing on doping can and does have life-altering implications for athletes – new research.Kelsey Erickson, Research Fellow in Anti-Doping, Leeds Beckett UniversitySusan Backhouse, Director of Research and Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Nutrition, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1058332018-11-18T18:50:26Z2018-11-18T18:50:26ZConfiscate their super. If it works for sports stars, it could work for bankers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246104/original/file-20181118-44255-2ozh5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why not give bankers conditional bonuses, paid out only after they have retired scandal-free?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shuttertock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/banking-royal-commissions-damning-report-things-are-so-bad-that-new-laws-might-not-help-104058">interim report</a> of the Financial Services Royal Commission pulled no punches, reminding us all of just how aghast the public is over (among other things) the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-19/how-dead-people-cand-be-charged-bank-fees/9676846">non-provision of paid financial advice</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-01/banking-royal-commission-hears-the-pain-of-farmers/9924334">invalid farm repossessions</a>, <a href="https://www.theherald.com.au/story/5659887/banking-royal-commission-fighter-facing-eviction-from-home/">wrongful evictions of elderly home owners</a>, and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/dollarmites-bites-the-scandal-behind-the-commonwealth-bank-s-junior-savings-program-20180517-p4zfyr.html">falsified “Dollarmite” children’s bank accounts</a>.</p>
<p>As unconnected as all these things seem, they all ultimately derive from the same place: misalignments between employee incentives and best practice.</p>
<p>These issues go right to the top, to the perverse incentives contained in executive salary packages to make short-term profits at the expense of long-term sustainability.</p>
<h2>Dud incentives make bankers do dud things</h2>
<p>Blame the individual bankers if you will – some bank boards, covering their own hides, already have – but the executives have simply been doing what dud incentives incentivised them to do.</p>
<p>Replacing dud incentives with proper ones will be essential if the the banks are to regain public trust.</p>
<p>And incentives being considered for sportspeople could show the way.</p>
<h2>Sport is a testbed for incentives</h2>
<p>An idea that I am trialling along with my collaborator Ralph Bayer from the University of Adelaide is a system of “conditional superannuation”.</p>
<p>To make sure that athletes don’t cheat by taking performance-enhancing drugs, competitors would agree to forego a percentage (say, 10%) of their earnings which would be placed into a managed fund, with the termination value handed to them some time in the future (say, eight to ten years after they retire) contingent on having maintained a clean record.</p>
<p>A positive drug test would result in <a href="https://www.afr.com/opinion/right-incentives-may-keep-sports-industry-clean-20150208-138wep">permanent confiscation</a> of all or some of their balance.</p>
<p>We have been testing the idea in a laboratory in which subjects are being asked to take decisions, such as whether or not to dope and how hard to train, in an environment that simulates the real world. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-anti-doping-powers-wont-fix-culture-of-drugs-in-sport-15479">New anti-doping powers won't fix culture of drugs in sport</a>
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<p>Our first findings, published in the <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/full/10.1123/jsm.2017-0063">Journal of Sports Management</a>, suggest that conditional superannuation is more effective in combating doping than the traditional threat of bans.</p>
<h2>Bank executives are like sports stars</h2>
<p>As with sports stars, bank executives are presented with enormous potential rewards that encourage them to take risks.</p>
<p>True, there are sticks as well as these carrots, but they are misfiring. </p>
<p>What might work better is still more carrots, in the form of conditional superannuation, which can be later withdrawn if the bankers are found to have acted badly.</p>
<p>They ought to welcome it. It’s more money, and we know they are keen on bonuses.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-way-banks-are-organised-makes-it-hard-to-hold-directors-and-executives-criminally-responsible-93638">The way banks are organised makes it hard to hold directors and executives criminally responsible</a>
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<p>The idea could be extended to other related industries in which the royal commission has uncovered signs of grave transgressions, such as mortgage brokering.</p>
<h2>But we would need to test for side-effects</h2>
<p>It would be wise not to rush in (as the banks have done in their scramble to suddenly appear responsive). Conditional superannuation might create fresh perverse incentives we haven’t yet considered.</p>
<p>That’s where experiments come in – lots of them, in laboratories.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/speaking-with-andrew-leigh-on-why-we-need-more-randomised-trials-in-policy-and-law-93282">Speaking with: Andrew Leigh on why we need more randomised trials in policy and law</a>
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<p>To do it, and in the spirit of forging greater links between universities and industry, we are in the process of soliciting funding partnerships to help prepare applications for competitive research funding.</p>
<p>Ultimately, with the right partnerships, we are hopeful the right incentives can be developed to ensure bank executives use their generally considerable talents, for “<a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/GetSmart">niceness, instead than evil</a>” (with apologies to Maxwell Smart).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Lenten does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conditional superannuation which can we withdrawn years after bankers retire might be the best way to get them to do the right thing.Liam Lenten, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1037382018-10-24T22:49:00Z2018-10-24T22:49:00ZAthletes are rightly concerned about lifting Russia’s doping ban<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241562/original/file-20181022-105757-was177.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A and B sample bottles from a human urine doping test. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has set off a controversy by allowing Russia to test its own athletes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The next Olympic Games won’t be held until 2020, but there is no break for the Olympic movement when it comes to doping controversies. The fallout from the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/sports/olympics/russia-wada-antidoping-reinstated.html">recent decision</a> by the World Anti-Doping Agency to lift its ban on Russia’s drug testing agency continues to reverberate across the sports world. </p>
<p>Canadian Olympian Beckie Scott, chair of WADA’s athlete committee, says she has been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/beckie-scott-says-some-wada-executives-attempted-to-bully-her-1.4860697">bullied by senior officials at the drug-testing body</a> after she publicly criticized the decision that will once again allow Russia to certify its athletes are clean to compete internationally.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1042570627318771714"}"></div></p>
<p>Other athletes were <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1070716/bach-criticised-by-athletes-after-claiming-critics-of-russian-reinstatement-misinterpreted-wada-decision">quick to back Scott’s concerns</a>, saying they were cut out of the decision-making process and that they have “<a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1070354/wada-athlete-committee-claim-compliance-conditions-for-russia-could-change-again-as-criticise-decision-to-lift-ban">little assurance</a>” Russian authorities will fairly test its own athletes. There have now also been calls for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/45937908">WADA to be investigated</a> over the bullying allegations levelled by Scott. </p>
<h2>Russia banned for two Olympics</h2>
<p>Russia was banned from the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2018 Winter Olympics (although some Russian were allowed to compete as neutral Olympic athletes) after it was revealed that state-sponsored <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?partner=rss&module=inline">drug cheating among Russian athletes was rampant</a> at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.</p>
<p>The International Olympic Committee has since lifted its ban, provided no more athletes test positive for performance-enhancing drugs. WADA’s ruling is seen as another important step to allowing Russia back into the world of international sports.</p>
<p>These latest controversies have put <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/who-we-are">the spotlight on WADA</a>, which was formed in 1999 as a joint effort by global sport organizations and governments with the lofty goal to eradicate doping from sport. The focus is not just on Olympians — a main impetus to create WADA was a series of drug cheating scandals that rocked the sport of cycling in the 1990s.</p>
<p>Before WADA, there were other attempts to examine drug cheating in sports. After <a href="https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/ben-johnson-finally-sees-inconsistent-seoul-test-results-kept-medal-200716713.html">sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for steroids</a> in 1988 and had to return his gold medal, the Canadian government set up a royal commission to investigate drugs in sports. The <a href="http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/bcp-pco/CP32-56-1990-1-eng.pdf">Dubin Inquiry,</a> as it was known, produced a series of recommendations that made Canada a leader in the anti-doping movement — and, it could be argued, helped lead to the formation of WADA.</p>
<h2>Considerable impact</h2>
<p>In the two decades since its creation, WADA has had considerable impact on doping in sport. Although this is not an easy impact to measure, some have looked at advances in testing methods, athlete feedback and other variables to suggest that things are getting better.</p>
<p>Beckie Scott herself is an example. Scott’s <a href="https://olympic.ca/2003/12/18/court-orders-ioc-to-award-beckie-scott-gold-medal/">cross-country skiing gold medal</a> at the 2002 Olympics was originally a bronze that was upgraded to silver and then gold (more than two years later) after the original Russian medallists were found to have used performance-enhancing drugs.</p>
<p>WADA is headquartered in Montreal and its founding President was Dick Pound, who led the organization from 1999 to 2007. Pound was known for his strong public stand on doping, particularly when it came to cyclist Lance Armstrong and professional sporting leagues.</p>
<p>Many give Pound and WADA much credit for the changing stance of professional sport leagues in North America which now take doping seriously. </p>
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<p>The fight for clean sport is complicated. The pressures — be they financial, ego, political, interpersonal, systemic or cultural — on an athlete (or a coach or a physician or an administrator) to find any edge possible is enormous.</p>
<h2>Legal sanctions not enough</h2>
<p>Over the years, legal sanctions and education programs have not been enough. Nor have promotional efforts. Strong public outreach, strict sanctions and costly penalties have made an impact on athlete behaviour to not dope.</p>
<p>But WADA’s vision of “a world where all athletes can compete in a doping-free sporting environment” remains unachieved. Positive doping tests occur every year and at every major sporting event. There is also ample evidence that cheating continues to go on undetected.</p>
<p>If we draw from what we know about behaviour change in humans, we know that there are three general tools available to organizations and governments to change or maintain behaviours — education, law and marketing. And, for each situation, the mix of these tactics differs and shifts in terms of what works to alter behaviour.</p>
<p>In the case of doping in athletes, the following would characterize these options.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Education: Programs put in place by WADA and its National Anti-Doping Association members (such as the United States Anti-Doping Agency that famously brought down Lance Armstrong) to inform athletes (elite and developing) and their support teams on doping-related issues. These are informational actions to let athletes know about the risks, penalties and consequences of doping behaviour and violations. In many situations, these are very effective. </p></li>
<li><p>Law: The sanctions and penalties put in place by WADA, NADAs, pro sports leagues, events and associations for doping violations. These could range from Armstrong’s lifetime ban to a warning for a first offence of not informing WADA/NADA of your whereabouts for random testing. These have impact, but again are not always effective.</p></li>
<li><p>Marketing: The final tactic is social marketing, which has been effective in changing social behaviours on smoking and drink and driving, where the athlete is “sold” that this is the best course of action. </p></li>
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<h2>Athletes remain skeptical</h2>
<p>Whether these tools will be effective in Russia is yet to be determined.</p>
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<p>Clearly, former athletes like Scott remain skeptical. Those still competing also feel WADA has not stood up for clean athletes. Although some other athletes, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sport-doping-russia/ioc-athletes-commission-supports-wadas-lifting-of-ban-on-rusada-idUSKCN1M20K1">including the IOC Athlete’s Commission</a>, supported the WADA, most athletes who have gone public on their social media channels are aligned with Scott.</p>
<p>WADA’s decision was made after considering many issues, such as the notion of individual athlete rights (should all Russian athletes be considered dirty?) versus collective athlete rights (is there strong enough evidence that Russian athletes will be tested properly by the Russian doping agency?).</p>
<p>But Beckie Scott and others have made a strong argument — that by paving the way to allow Russia back into the international sports community, WADA has strayed from its core mission.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Norm O'Reilly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency to lift its ban on Russia’s drug testing has set off another controversy about whether there will ever be a level playing field in the world of sports.Norm O'Reilly, Assistant Dean, Professor & Director of the International Institute for Sport Business & Leadership, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1036362018-09-24T10:56:32Z2018-09-24T10:56:32ZSports anti-doping bodies won’t reform themselves, but nation states can break the deadlock<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237711/original/file-20180924-85758-14jg4se.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Anti-doping control bodies are themselves in need of control.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.visitcampnou.com">visitcampnou</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Following the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?_r=0">extraordinary state-sponsored doping scandal</a> of the Russian Olympic team, the international sport’s anti-doping regime faces its worst credibility crisis in decades. The latest decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/20/wada-crisis-lifts-russia-suspension-anti-doping">reinstate the Russian Anti Doping Agency</a> and its Moscow laboratory after their multi-year suspension has again focused attention on the viability of the regime to tackle cheating in sport.</p>
<p>The international anti-doping system, recognised as having longstanding inefficiencies, has responded inadequately to the Russian scandal. The sanctioning policy, directed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), remains ad-hoc, as seen in the inconsistent, delayed, and many believe lenient measures against Russian teams in multiple sports. The regime’s accountability structure has not changed in a way that would create incentives for the IOC and WADA as the global anti-doping regulator to do better. Under the current structure there is no forum for these organisations to be held accountable for the outcomes of their policies. </p>
<p>The recent establishment of the <a href="https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1060521/independent-testing-authority-moves-closer-to-becoming-operational-after-first-meeting">Independent Testing Authority</a>, intended to take over the role of testing athletes from (conflicted) international sporting federations, national anti-doping organisations and laboratories, is a welcome step. But it was driven by the IOC, and hardly qualifies as revolutionary change. WADA has not been given the tools to effectively combat doping, nor has sanctioning policy been sufficiently tightened to deter future cheating. In fact, despite <a href="https://theconversation.com/athletics-doping-report-should-spark-radical-rethink-on-drugs-in-sport-50376">various reform proposals</a>, the system is steering away from meaningful change towards preserving the status quo. </p>
<p>So it’s unlikely that the international anti-doping system will reform from within, and the opportunities for those outside the Olympic institutions are very limited. Even though it is a hybrid regime that features both public and private regulation, the sports governance system is dominated by one private organisation: the IOC. Is the system doomed to stagnate in spite of calls for reform? Not necessarily. One way forward is through greater government involvement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237712/original/file-20180924-85764-bwcgmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237712/original/file-20180924-85764-bwcgmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237712/original/file-20180924-85764-bwcgmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237712/original/file-20180924-85764-bwcgmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237712/original/file-20180924-85764-bwcgmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237712/original/file-20180924-85764-bwcgmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/237712/original/file-20180924-85764-bwcgmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anti-doping laboratories have historically been accurate, but the anti-doping organisations themselves lack oversight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bartlomiej Zborowski/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reform-minded states lead the way</h2>
<p>While not key players in international sports governance, national governments could spur on reform in several ways.</p>
<p>First, in the absence of robust international action to police and sanction cheating, anti-doping measures can be tightened at domestic level. Doping schemes can be criminalised, and international authorities can be assisted to prosecute their perpetrators abroad. </p>
<p>A notable effort is the recently proposed <a href="https://www.csce.gov/sites/helsinkicommission.house.gov/files/RADA%20signed.pdf">Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act</a> in the US, which would criminalise doping cartels and authorise state authorities to prosecute violations committed overseas, on the grounds that they have harmed US interests. While it is not certain whether this will become law, the more countries that introduce similar measures the greater potential there is for deterring and prosecuting organised doping schemes. </p>
<p>Second, states can enhance anti-doping regulation through international legislation. The current <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/anti-doping/international-convention-against-doping-in-sport/">UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport</a> harmonises global anti-doping standards, but does not regulate the workings of the anti-doping regime. There is scope for further regulation to strengthen anti-doping tools and to introduce accountability mechanisms for Olympic organisations.</p>
<p>Given the public interest and investment in sport and the need to protect the rights of athletes, using international law to update anti-doping policy could be readily justified. Just as states managed in the late 1990s to mobilise stakeholders to <a href="https://www.iilj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Casini-Global-hybrid-public-private-bodies-2009.pdf">create the anti-doping regime</a>, with a new global regulator, they can similarly spearhead efforts now to break the deadlock. </p>
<p>Governments can also step up their involvement in WADA. Half the seats on WADA’s governing bodies are held by state delegates (representing states as co-funders of WADA). Even though these delegates have little power over the anti-doping regime, they can still have a larger impact. For example, the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/44227689">recently announced candidacy for WADA president</a> of Linda Helleland, former Norwegian sports minister and current WADA vice-president, is significant for the 2019 elections. Were Helleland elected she could be the springboard for change for reform-minded governments. While the position lacks direct powers, the WADA presidency is an agenda-setting role that sets the direction of debate. This would add to the pressure on the IOC from within.</p>
<p>So, not only has the anti-doping regime been exposed as dysfunctional, but there seems little appetite for change. Despite the role of the state in the Russian doping scandal, we would argue that more, rather than less, state involvement could be a promising way to break the deadlock. It might seem paradoxical that the anti-doping system, having been “hacked” by those within governments, might also find that governments are their saviour. But the collaborative efforts of many states is the best way to address the disruptive role of a few and “keep them honest”. The alternative – that the same governing bodies that have failed sports so far will reinvent themselves without further oversight – seems vanishingly unlikely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The initial research for this article was conducted while Slobodan Tomic was employed by sports governance consultancy I Trust Sport.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Schmidt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Anti-doping laboratories have historically worked well, but the anti-doping organisations themselves lack oversight.Slobodan Tomic, Post-Doctoral Marie Currie Fellow, University College DublinRebecca Schmidt, Assistant Professor in Law, Dublin City UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1005852018-07-30T06:39:18Z2018-07-30T06:39:18ZThe evidence suggests Serena Williams is not being discriminated against by drug testers<p>Serena Williams is a well-known advocate for “clean sport”. For any athlete to be effective in such a role, it is important to comprehend how anti-doping programs work. Misunderstandings of the drug-testing process can lead to misperceptions about fairness between different athletes or across sports.</p>
<p>Williams has been a part of this complex and evolving anti-doping process since turning professional back in 1995. Earlier this year, however, she became frustrated with what she regards as inequities in the system. Just before the French Open in May, Williams informed her Twitter followers: </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"998640535609987073"}"></div></p>
<p>At the time, Williams had recently returned to tennis after having a baby and suffering <a href="https://www.si.com/tennis/2018/01/10/serena-williams-post-birth-complications-blood-clots">post-birth health complications</a>. Her low ranking did not reflect a decline in ability – rather, she had been out of the game. In other words, Williams was hardly a typical low-ranked player.</p>
<p>Then, just before the start of Wimbledon in late June, an article in Deadspin revealed that Williams had been tested five times by the <a href="https://www.usada.org/">US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) </a> in 2018, which was <a href="https://deadspin.com/an-anti-doping-agent-occupied-serena-williams-s-propert-1826993294">more than twice that of other top American women players</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-faster-cleaner-doping-and-the-winter-olympics-22742">Higher, faster ... cleaner? Doping and the Winter Olympics</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Williams responded to the report at Wimbledon by saying that she didn’t know she had been tested “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/03/sports/tennis-doping.html">three times more — in some cases five times more — than everyone else”</a>, but emphasised she was fine with this amount of testing as long as the system was being equitably applied. A spokesperson later <a href="https://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/tennis/comment-serena-williams-soiling-her-legacy-by-slamming-drug-testers-37070031.html">released a statement</a> that made clear she felt she was being unfairly singled out:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…there is absolutely no reason for this kind of invasive and targeted treatment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Then came another USADA drug test in late July and a further tweet by Williams, this time suggesting discrimination:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1021925651815845888"}"></div></p>
<p>A few minutes later she posted an addendum to that message: </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1021927293827080193"}"></div></p>
<h2>Targeted, rather than random</h2>
<p>A key instrument in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s monitoring arsenal is longitudinal data provided through the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/guidelines_abp_v61_2018_jul_en.pdf">Athlete Biological Passport</a>, which began in 2009. This provides an analytical framework to detect unexpected changes in blood or steroid profiles among athletes. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, drug testing of individual athletes remains core to anti-doping efforts, but there is now a more targeted approach to monitoring, with much less emphasis on random collecting of urine or blood samples. </p>
<p>It is indeed difficult to comprehend how drug-testing is carried out in tennis these days and why testing certain athletes is prioritised over others. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-tennis-players-go-pro-even-though-few-make-it-88243">Why so many tennis players go pro even though few 'make it'</a>
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<hr>
<p>By definition, a decision to target someone for a drug test is discriminatory. The key question is whether it is reasonable and proportionate to do so. In other words, what are the criteria by which drug testers are more likely to seek a urine or blood sample from one athlete over another? And when is it legitimate to discriminate in this way?</p>
<p>In its 121-page <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/2016-09-30_-_isti_final_january_2017.pdf">“Testing and Investigations”</a>guide (2017), WADA advises athletes that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Target Testing is a priority because random Testing, or even weighted random Testing, does not ensure that all of the appropriate Athletes will be tested enough.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, target testing is, in part, a strategy to allocate resources where they are most needed. Importantly, though, WADA insists that a focus on particular athletes is not intended to cast suspicion on anyone individually. These athletes just happen to be in a pool of competitors that WADA considers a priority to “target test” based on one or more criteria. </p>
<p>The WADA guide lists various factors that may influence target testing by national agencies like USADA. Several appear to apply to Williams: athletes at the highest level of a sport (23 Grand Slam singles titles), athletes recovering from injury (shoulder issue), athletes in the later stages of their career (36 years old), and athletes returning to active participation after retirement (in this case, an extended break related to maternity leave).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229769/original/file-20180730-106511-10a0gbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229769/original/file-20180730-106511-10a0gbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229769/original/file-20180730-106511-10a0gbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229769/original/file-20180730-106511-10a0gbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229769/original/file-20180730-106511-10a0gbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229769/original/file-20180730-106511-10a0gbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229769/original/file-20180730-106511-10a0gbi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Serena and Venus after the 2017 Australian Open final, which the younger Williams won while pregnant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Evidence suggests that testing frequency is reasonable</h2>
<p>These factors suggest that USADA was target testing Williams in accordance with WADA standards. </p>
<p>While Williams has been <a href="https://www.usada.org/testing/results/athlete-test-history/">tested more</a> in 2018 than other top female players, including her sister Venus Williams (twice), Madison Keys (twice), and Sloane Stephens (once), a look back at the testing numbers in previous years is useful.</p>
<p>If we focus specifically on the Williams sisters, they were barely tested by USADA from 2001 (when records were provided to the public) to 2012, but that was also true for the majority of US tennis players. From 2013 onward, USADA became much more active in drug testing tennis players: over the next five years, Serena was tested 31 times and Venus 34 times. </p>
<p>Drug testing is not only the preserve of USADA. According to <a href="https://www.itftennis.com/media/281704/281704.pdf">drug-testing data</a> from the International Tennis Federation, Williams was tested 1-3 times in-competition (IC) and 1-3 times out-of-competition (OOC) through the ITF’s anti-doping program last year. This modest volume reflects the fact that she played just two tournaments and then took time off to have a baby. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-doping-wrong-anyway-63057">Why is doping wrong anyway?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The year 2016 <a href="https://www.itftennis.com/media/255005/255005.pdf">provides</a> a more reliable gauge: in that year, the ITF program tested Williams 4-6 times IC and 7+ times OOC, the same ratio as her sister. Among other highly ranked US players, Keys and CoCo Vandeweghe were tested 7+ times IC and 7+ times OOC, while Stephens was tested 4-6 times IC and 7+ times OOC.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.itftennis.com/media/222641/222641.pdf">The 2015 ITF testing numbers</a> and <a href="https://www.itftennis.com/media/199333/199333.pdf">2014 numbers</a> are much the same.</p>
<p>There is, in short, no evidence that Williams is being unfairly targeted by drug testers. Her perception that she is being discriminated against appears to stem from a lack of awareness about publicly available information on who has been tested by different anti-doping organisations. </p>
<p>This misunderstanding is unfortunate, because Williams has used her enormous public profile to clumsily question the integrity of those tasked with the role of monitoring “clean sport”. </p>
<p>Drug testing is hardly a panacea for doping in sports, but if athletes wish to question why they have been targeted for biological samples, social media is hardly conducive to generating expert responses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100585/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Adair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By using her public profile to suggest bias in drug-testing, Williams is calling into question the integrity of those tasked with the role of monitoring ‘clean sport’.Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/956162018-04-27T15:01:53Z2018-04-27T15:01:53ZSport is not clean: doping could be prevented if athletes had chaperones<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216643/original/file-20180427-95636-1984gqn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cycling-competitioncyclist-athletes-riding-race-high-635675588?src=0yhfhyexHGyBdfjSi1AouQ-1-3">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sport is facing a critical moment. As we head into a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/41527965">big sporting summer</a>, unanswered questions cast a large shadow over many high-profile athletes and countries. The ongoing <a href="http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/cas-delivers-two-reasoned-awards-matter-39-russian-athletes-v-ioc/">legal appeals from Russian athletes</a>, the unresolved <a href="http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chris-froomes-salbutamol-case-362848">Chris Froome sanction</a>, minimal testing in some sports and countries, and <a href="http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/analysis-criminalisation-supply-drugs-athletes-recommended/">calls for tougher measures</a> all point towards a need for new solutions. </p>
<p>Our recent <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Anti-Doping-Crisis-in-Sport-Causes-Consequences-Solutions/Dimeo-Moller/p/book/9781138681675">research</a> shows that the current system is highly ineffective. Of 300,000 global anti-doping tests conducted every year, fewer than 2% return a positive result – and of those a substantial number are either legitimate drug use (with a <a href="https://ukad.org.uk/medications-and-substances/about-TUE/">Therapeutic Use Exemption</a>), recreational drugs or inadvertent use of a banned substance (not intentional and often with little or no performance enhancing effect).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/elite-sport-time-to-scrap-the-therapeutic-exemption-system-of-banned-medicines-89252">Elite sport: time to scrap the therapeutic exemption system of banned medicines</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<p>By contrast, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40279-017-0792-1">several studies</a> point to a true prevalence rate of over 20% and, in some instances, over 50%. If an athlete wants to dope, and has the required support, they can get away with it. The Russians were only caught because of whistleblower evidence and media investigations, not because the testing system works. Sport is not “clean”.</p>
<h2>How do you solve a problem like doping?</h2>
<p>But how do you prevent athletes from using banned drugs in and out of competition? The current approach of occasional testing – and the vain hope that the threat of being caught is a deterrence – is obviously not enough. To properly address the problem, we need a more radical solution: athletes could be assigned a 24-hour chaperone to observe their daily life and ensure they are not doping.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216644/original/file-20180427-67547-cy9p16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216644/original/file-20180427-67547-cy9p16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216644/original/file-20180427-67547-cy9p16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216644/original/file-20180427-67547-cy9p16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216644/original/file-20180427-67547-cy9p16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1060&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216644/original/file-20180427-67547-cy9p16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1060&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216644/original/file-20180427-67547-cy9p16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1060&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">British cyclist Christ Froome returned an abnormal test result for the asthma drug Salbutamol at the Vuelta a España in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.paimages.co.uk/image-details/2.32164497">PA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>This might sound ridiculous, because of intrusions into athletes’ privacy and the practicalities. But the current system already involves extensive surveillance of athletes. Athletes need to provide daily information on their whereabouts and those in the <a href="https://ukad.org.uk/education/athletes/high-performance/testing-programmes/">Registered Testing Pool</a> need a fixed location for one hour each day. They have their blood samples monitored for biological profiling, their urine samples analysed and then stored for 10 years for retesting. They are strictly liable if one of hundreds of banned drugs is detected, ruled ineligible for competition for four years if tested positive and excluded for life for second offences. </p>
<p>The practicalities of a 24-hour chaperone system can be addressed. The athlete would be assigned chaperones who work in shifts. They would initially search the house and training facilities for any doping products. Thereafter, it would only be a case of keeping a distance and following the athlete wherever they go. Almost like a celebrity or politician has a bodyguard.</p>
<p>The chaperones would ensure the athlete does not visit a corrupt doctor, meet with drug dealers or consort with coaches or other athletes who might be suppliers. Given that the internet is a source of doping products, the chaperone would have access to their computer (or have software installed to alert them to certain search words).</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Such an approach might actually be less intrusive than the current system. Any athlete who is tested needs to be observed urinating. They can currently be tested at home or on holiday, at which point the Drug Control Officer (DCO) follows them literally everywhere (even to their bedroom to change clothes) until they are ready to provide a sample. If they are under 18 the DCO and another person watches them urinate, which might be their coach or a team manager (if a parent is not available). The 24-hour chaperone system would not involve any of this.</p>
<p>Our proposal would solve a number of other problems that have long plagued anti-doping organisations and athletes. Less testing means much less chance of a false positive, a mistake in a laboratory, corruption of the scientific process or a sanction emerging from inadvertent use. An example of the latter would be recent <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/news/8833438/Over-100-players-test-positive-for-banned-drug-clenbuterol-at-Fifa-Under-17-World-Cup-in-Mexico-this-summer.html">clenbuterol cases</a> (a drug used to treat asthma) in which the athlete might have consumed the drug when in a country like Mexico, where it is in the food chain. The chaperone would be able to confirm or deny such explanations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216645/original/file-20180427-175044-o2kup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216645/original/file-20180427-175044-o2kup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216645/original/file-20180427-175044-o2kup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216645/original/file-20180427-175044-o2kup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216645/original/file-20180427-175044-o2kup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216645/original/file-20180427-175044-o2kup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216645/original/file-20180427-175044-o2kup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’ replaced the banned Olympic Russian team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, after athletes were stripped of 13 Sochi 2014 medals for doping.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.paimages.co.uk/image-details/2.34866982">PA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This system offers a potential way forward for countries that are currently suspected of allowing doping to occur and face the possibility of being excluded from international events. A country could set up the chaperone system with help from other countries, perhaps for 12 months leading up the event, thus being able to provide evidence that their athletes are clean. </p>
<p>Suppliers would soon recognise that their access to athletes would be so limited that they would go out of business: supply reduces if demand reduces – and this, in the long term, would be the best deterrent.</p>
<p>The system would be expensive, but there is enough money in sport to pay for it – and the savings from current testing could be diverted towards it. The risk of corrupt chaperones could be solved by extensive vetting. </p>
<p>While there are practical challenges and concerns over athletes’ human rights, the potential acceptance of such a model boils down to the question: do we want sport to be clean or not? This is the only way to address the ambition of anti-doping policy – that all athletes, in all sports, in all countries follow the rules 365 days a year.</p>
<p>If there is a critical reaction to this solution then it is the policy that needs to be reconsidered, as it is naïve, idealistic and flawed. This solution is a logical outcome of how the problem is defined. It might not be ideal, but it would be an improvement – more effective, less intrusive and would reduce demand for, and supply of, banned drugs. It would be one step toward clean sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95616/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We need a radical solution to clean up doping in elite sport.Paul Dimeo, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of StirlingVerner Møller, Professor of Sports Science, Aarhus UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/904002018-02-15T11:55:40Z2018-02-15T11:55:40ZWinter Olympics: why many athletes will be struggling with asthma<p>As the world’s best winter athletes compete in PyeongChang for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, the heavy demands of both training and competition will leave many of them with breathing problems. </p>
<p>Exercise-induced asthma is the most common medical problem among winter Olympic athletes, especially among cross-country skiers. Nearly <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10776890">50%</a> of these athletes suffer from the condition, closely followed by short-track speed skaters at 43%. For figure skaters it’s 21%, Nordic combined it’s 17%, and for ice hockey it’s 15%. By comparison, <a href="https://www.asthma.org.uk/about/media/facts-and-statistics/">around 9%</a> of the UK general population suffers from asthma. </p>
<p>The combination of sustained high breathing combined with cold, dry air increases winter athletes’ risk of asthma-related conditions. (Indoor speed skaters also have to deal with increased pollution in the form of particulate matter from ice resurfacing vehicles.) Cross-country skiers, for example, increase their breathing rate from about six litres per minute at rest, to 180 litres per minute during a race. This huge increase in breathing results in large volumes of cold, dry air being drawn into the lungs. This can cause the smooth muscle in the airway to narrow, reducing the athletes’ ability to breathe normally. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205527/original/file-20180208-180808-136ema9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205527/original/file-20180208-180808-136ema9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205527/original/file-20180208-180808-136ema9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205527/original/file-20180208-180808-136ema9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205527/original/file-20180208-180808-136ema9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205527/original/file-20180208-180808-136ema9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205527/original/file-20180208-180808-136ema9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ice resurfacing machines release particulate matter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=TBPfg_Ndf_afOgoukdKQiw-1-0">njene/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This happens by two processes. The first relates to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2767426">the airway becoming dehydrated</a> which causes a release of inflammatory cytokines – messenger molecules that cause the airway to become narrow and inflamed. </p>
<p>The second process relates to respiratory heat loss which results in airway narrowing through nerve stimulation. When the athlete stops exercising, the airway narrows even further by a dilation of blood vessels as the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1969985">airways warm up again</a>.</p>
<p>Although we know that exercise-induced asthma is common in winter athletes, it can be confused with other conditions, such as dysfunctional breathing patterns and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise-induced_laryngeal_obstruction">exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction</a>, that have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25398497">similar symptoms to asthma</a>. </p>
<p>If an athlete is diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma, they are usually given the standard treatment for asthma: a preventer asthma inhaler, containing steroid medication. This works by reducing the inflammation and sensitivity of the airways, helping them breathe. However, athletes have to be careful about the type of inhaler they use as some drugs – such as salbutamol – could put them at risk of an anti-doping violation. </p>
<h2>Alternative therapies</h2>
<p>As well as using drugs to treat exercise-induced asthma, athletes can supplement their inhaler therapy with:</p>
<p><strong>Heat-and-moisture face masks:</strong> Face masks worn during training and prior to competition are able to capture the heat and moisture in exhaled breath and use it to warm and moisten the inhaled air as a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16685008">defence</a> against airway dehydration and subsequent narrowing. </p>
<p><strong>Fish oils:</strong> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16424411">Studies suggest</a> that the use of omega-3 fish oils can reduce airway inflammation and provide a protective effect against asthma associated with exercise. </p>
<p><strong>Prebiotics:</strong> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27523186">Recent evidence</a> suggests that a dietary prebiotic supplement that targets the good bacteria in the gut can reduce the severity of asthma in physically active asthma patients and reduce airway inflammation.</p>
<p>Winter athletes who suffer from exercise-induced asthma can use an inhaler alone, or in combination with one or more of the above treatments. By doing this, athletes can maintain their airway health and function, allowing them to compete without compromising their performance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nearly 50% of cross-country skiers suffer from exercise-induced asthma.Neil Williams, Lecturer in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition, Nottingham Trent UniversityJohn Dickinson, Head of the Respiratory Clinic and Reader in Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912602018-02-09T11:18:41Z2018-02-09T11:18:41ZWinter Olympics: why it’s wrong that Russian athletes are guilty until proven innocent<p>Just hours before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, a group of 47 Russian athletes who had hoped to compete in South Korea, were <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42999126">denied</a> the chance to do so when their appeal was turned down the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). </p>
<p>In December 2017, the International Olympic Committe (IOC) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/sports/olympics/ioc-russia-winter-olympics.html">banned Russian athletes</a> from competing because of alleged systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. </p>
<p>The IOC made provision for individual Russian athletes who could prove their innocence – by providing evidence from independent testing – to participate as an “Olympic Athlete from Russia” (OAR). There will be 169 Russian athletes competing at the Games under this route. However, this leaves the possibility that there might be innocent athletes who cannot compete because they could not prove their innocence.</p>
<p>The IOC’s decision to ban all Russian athletes until they are proven innocent amounts to a collective punishment of an entire national Olympic team, including coaches and top officials. But based on my ongoing research into the case I believe the initial ban was not supported by solid evidence</p>
<h2>Bans and appeals</h2>
<p>The 47 Russian athletes and coaches whose last-minute appeals were overturned by CAS on February 9, included a group of 28 athletes whose lifetime bans for doping had been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-olympics-russia/cas-overturns-doping-bans-on-28-russian-athletes-idUSKBN1FL4ET">overturned</a> on February 1 by the same court. </p>
<p>After examining 39 cases, and for the first time <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/42674331">cross-examining</a> Grigory Rodchenkov – the former director of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, whose <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?_r=2">whisteblowing</a> led to the bans – CAS <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-olympics-russia/cas-overturns-doping-bans-on-28-russian-athletes-idUSKBN1FL4ET">overturned 28</a> lifetime bans, saying there was insufficient evidence that they broke the rules. Those whose bans were lifted included Alexander Tretyakov, who won a skeleton gold at Sochi. </p>
<p>But within hours of announcing the decision, both the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) <a href="https://www.onenewspage.co.uk/n/Sports/75ip924w2/Olympics-CAS-ruling-surprising-and-disappointing-says-Bach.htm">expressed their disappointment</a> with it and <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20180204-ioc-chief-urges-sports-court-reform-after-russia-bans-lifted">called for</a> reforms to CAS.</p>
<p>A few days later, on February 5, the IOC Invitation Review Panel headed by the former French minister of sport Valerie Fourneyron defied CAS’s ruling and said the IOC <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/request-to-invite-15-athletes-and-coaches-to-pyeongchang-2018-for-the-olympic-athlete-from-russia-group-declined">still had</a> “suspicions about the integrity of these athletes”. It <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-russia/olympics-no-pyeongchang-invite-for-cas-cleared-russians-ioc-idUSKBN1FP18O">ruled</a> that 15 of the 28 athletes who’d had their bans overturned and who had requested to compete in South Korea would not be able to.</p>
<h2>No evidence of ‘state manipulation’</h2>
<p>The IOC was careful not to use the word “state-manipulated” system in its December 2017 <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-suspends-russian-noc-and-creates-a-path-for-clean-individual-athletes-to-compete-in-pyeongchang-2018-under-the-olympic-flag">announcement</a>. But Russian officials, who deny the charges, have said it has been <a href="http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/kolobkov-interview-shows-russia-cannot-meet-wadas-conditions/">made clear to them</a> that responding to this allegation is a key condition for reinstating the suspended Russian National Olympic Committee.</p>
<p>Following <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?_r=2">allegations</a> of widespread doping practices made by Rodchenkov in early 2016, WADA launched an inquiry led by the Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, who is also a CAS member. His <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/20160718_ip_report_newfinal.pdf">findings were published</a> in July 2016. </p>
<p>Despite Russia raising questions over the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-putin-olympic-doping-whistle-blower-rodchenkov-a-jerk/29007755.html">credibility</a> of the Rodchenkov as a witness, McLaren found he was a credible person, and concluded that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The surprise result of the Sochi investigation was the revelation of the extent of state oversight and directed control of the Moscow Laboratory in processing, and covering up urine samples of Russian athletes from virtually all sports before and after the Sochi Games.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The political tone of the debate about the report was set several days before its publication in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doping-russia-usada-exclusive/exclusive-nados-some-athletes-want-total-russia-ban-if-doping-report-damning-idUSKCN0ZW0XH">a leaked letter </a> drafted by the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Travis Tygart, and his Canadian counterpart Paul Melia. The letter called for drastic action and to immediately suspend the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committees from the Olympic Movement. USADA also <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/pat-hickey-slams-report-calling-for-outright-russian-olympic-ban-1.2725073">approached several</a> National Olympic Committees to garner support for the call in a serious serious breach of the independent process of investigation. </p>
<p>It would be naïve to decouple this report and the ban that followed from the current geopolitical context where Russia has been subjected to a systematic campaign of discreditation and political and economic <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/25/europe/russia-sanctions-explainer/index.html">sanctions</a> led by the US.</p>
<p>The word “state” is not used in the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/doping-control-process/mclaren-independent-investigation-report-part-ii">second part</a> of McLaren’s report, published in December 2016. The allegation of a state-sponsored programme was quietly dropped, replaced by an allegation of an “institutionalised” doping conspiracy. This important change of wording was also noted by a subsequent report commissioned by the IOC into the case by the former president of Switzerland, Samuel Schmid. He <a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/IOC/Who-We-Are/Commissions/Disciplinary-Commission/IOC-DC-Schmid/IOC-Disciplinary-Commission-Schmid-Report.pdf#_ga=2.266293837.337422065.1517832823-1277377352.1517832823">found no evidence</a> in support of McLaren’s initial claims for state involvement.</p>
<p>McLaren had <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/trackandfield/richard-mclaren-russian-doping-wada-1.3314048">admitted this</a> himself in an interview with Canadian CBC Sport in late 2015: “We don’t have any evidence of a systematic, state-wide doping mechanism. If we did, we would have published it, and so we have to go on the inference.” </p>
<h2>A question of integrity</h2>
<p>Integrity is the crux of the matter. But it’s a characteristic not only of individuals and organisations, but of the processes involved in how evidence used to make independent, unbiased judgements is acquired. The ends cannot justify the means. </p>
<p>While it claims to be protecting the integrity of sport, I believe the McLaren report and the IOC’s subsequent decisions to ban Russian athletes have actually contributed to undermining it. </p>
<p>A dangerous precedent has been established in international sport policy. Against the norm of international law and the presumption of innocence until proved guilty, a collective punishment has been issued on the entire sport system of a country and its athletes, who were then charged to prove their innocence. This cannot be right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vassil Girginov does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The politics of Russia’s Olympic doping ban.Vassil Girginov, Reader in Sports Management and Development, Brunel University LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/822052017-08-29T03:34:49Z2017-08-29T03:34:49ZDoping among amateur athletes like CrossFitters is probably more common than you’d think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181897/original/file-20170814-28408-gg7zsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It is is a misperception to think that performance-enhancing drug use is only an issue in elite sport.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this month the 11th annual CrossFit Games <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-08/tia-clair-toomey-wins-world-crossfit-games/8784360">took place in the US</a>. While the event has come a long way from humble beginnings, the prizemoney and fame now attached to it have <a href="https://www.t-nation.com/powerful-words/crossfit-and-steroids">led to concerns</a> that competitors may be doping to gain an unfair advantage.</p>
<p>CrossFit is a fitness regime practised by people all around the world. But the majority of those who take part in its high-intensity competitive workouts are not elite athletes: they do so on an amateur level or recreationally.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">CrossFit explained.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The first CrossFit Games, in 2007, had 70 registered athletes competing for US$500 in prizemoney. By 2017, it had more than 300,000 athletes competing for the possibility of winning US$275,000. Games organisers have signed multimillion-dollar sponsorship and marketing contracts, and secured a multi-year TV deal with ESPN.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mheducation.com/highered/product/sports-society-issues-controversies-coakley/M0073523542.html">Evidence suggests</a> that when sport becomes more commercialised, the prizes more lucrative and the competition fiercer, doping becomes more attractive for athletes. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25169441">prevalence of doping</a> among elite athletes in general is between 14% and 39%. The uncovering of recent scandals, such as the one revealed in <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/netflixs-icarus-opens-our-eyes-to-the-world-of-doping-in-atheltics/article36089891/">the documentary Icarus</a>, is further evidence that doping is widespread. </p>
<p>Similarly, given the growing pressure to compete, its heavy physical demands and the quest for self-improvement and a winning edge, it is not unreasonable to think that similar percentages may exist in CrossFit. </p>
<h2>Doping is not exclusive to elite athletes</h2>
<p>It is a misperception to think that performance-enhancing drug use is an issue in elite sport only. Most people who <a href="http://www.ipedinfo.co.uk/resources/downloads/2015%20National%20IPED%20Info%20Survey%20report.pdf">use these substances</a> do so to improve their appearance, general wellbeing and/or performance (non-elite). </p>
<p>In the UK, steroid use among 16-to-24-year-old men <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/love-island-young-men-steroid-use-muscles-reality-tv-beach-holiday-a7864376.html">increased fourfold</a> in the last year. In Australia, the <a href="https://www.acic.gov.au/sites/g/files/net1491/f/2016/08/acic-iddr-2014-15.pdf?v=1470178813">dramatic increase in steroids</a> detected at the borders and the number of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26644363">users of needle and syringe programs</a> suggest a similar story.</p>
<p>As such, there are concerns that performance-enhancing drug use is quickly becoming a public health crisis.</p>
<p>In our soon-to-be-published UK study on CrossFit, 13% of 123 participants reported ever having used performance- or image-enhancing drugs (mainly weight-loss drugs and steroids).</p>
<p>Participants mainly used these substances not to enhance their sport performance but to develop body image and/or for cosmetic purposes (50%), to lose weight (41.6%) and to put on size/gain weight (25%).</p>
<h2>Doping as a public health problem</h2>
<p>Tackling doping has been largely left to the sporting arena. Sporting authorities mainly rely on testing and surveillance to combat doping. But the rise of doping among the general public has required governments to rethink their approach.</p>
<p>Some have simply applied elite sports’ testing and surveillance model to recreational athletes. For example, in <a href="https://theconversation.com/doping-controls-in-gyms-ineffective-costly-and-more-common-than-you-think-68797">Denmark and Belgium</a>, everyday gym-goers can be subjected to drug testing. If they test positive they can receive similar sanctions to professional athletes.</p>
<p>Other jurisdictions have gone the criminal justice route, enacting and intensifying laws against the consumption, possession and/or trafficking of these drugs.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-should-stop-beefing-up-its-steroid-laws-that-wont-help-users-77343">Queensland in Australia</a>, for instance, reclassified steroids as a schedule-one drug in 2014. This means they are classed alongside heroin, cocaine and ice in the highest category of dangerous illicit drugs, with penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment for possession or supply of steroids. </p>
<p>Similar tough penalties apply in other Australian states.</p>
<h2>From anti-doping to health promotion</h2>
<p>The government must tackle the needs of this rapidly growing drug-using population. But simply copying failed sport policy, or taking two steps back via criminal justice measures, is the wrong approach. </p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28619395">sport researchers</a>, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/doping-controls-in-gyms-ineffective-costly-and-more-common-than-you-think-68797">ourselves</a>, have argued for an approach centred on public health that seeks to tackle the wider sociocultural reasons behind the rise in drug use, while seeking to reduce the harms associated with such use.</p>
<p>For example, it is increasingly recognised that social pressure to conform to idealised beauty standards, coupled with the growth of social media, has led to growing numbers of young people being unhappy with how they look. </p>
<p>A harm-reduction-based program would accept that the use of performance- and image-enhancing substances occurs. Therefore, such an approach would focus on minimising harms of use, using strategies such as peer education, prevention strategies, testing of the quality of drugs, and medical advice. </p>
<p>The current controls against anti-doping in sport are largely incompatible with this approach. It would require sport officials to accept doping as part of sport and to shift concerns away from the purity of sport and to the health of the athlete. We are a long way from having these sober discussions.</p>
<p>Thus, for now, our policy approach to this growing public health problem must learn to differentiate between the CrossFit Games athletes and the amateur/recreational CrossFitter, shifting from a punitive model largely reliant on deterrence to one centred on <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687637.2016.1208732">health promotion</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katinka van de Ven and Kyle Mulrooney received funding from Birmingham City University to conduct the CrossFit study. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyle J.D. Mulrooney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are concerns that performance-enhancing drug use is quickly becoming a public health crisis.Kyle J.D. Mulrooney, PhD Fellow, Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology, University of KentKatinka van de Ven, Research Fellow, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/827822017-08-22T17:44:15Z2017-08-22T17:44:15ZMaria Sharapova’s wild card for the US Open does tennis a poor service<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182812/original/file-20170821-4938-1c7s89o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Winning in 2014.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-ny-august-25-maria-238642741?src=bTy096PiHwJJJ5eBS-p0hg-1-51">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I once watched Maria Sharapova play tennis live. It was the fourth round of the French Open in 2014 against Sam Stosur. Sharapova lost the first set, but it was clear that this would only delay the inevitable. What followed was more like retribution than just a comeback: Sharapova won the last nine games in a row. She went on to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jun/07/maria-sharapova-v-simona-halep-french-open-2014-final-live">win the tournament</a> for the second time. What was obvious from the stands was that she possessed an unrivalled competitive ferocity. She was an irresistible force. Pure box office. </p>
<p>Two years later, in June 2016, there was a twist in the plot of the Sharapova story. She received a <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/36482288">two-year ban</a> from tennis (later <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/37549424">reduced to 15 months</a>) after testing positive for the prohibited substance meldonium. No tennis means no points, and at the time of writing, she is <a href="http://www.wtatennis.com/rankings">ranked 147th in the world</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the <a href="https://www.usta.com/en/home.html">United States Tennis Association</a> (USTA) have decided to grant Sharapova a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/15/maria-sharapova-handed-wildcard-us-open">“wild card” to this year’s US Open</a>. Wild cards are both scarce and prized at every level of professional tennis. They allow a player, who would otherwise have to battle through several rounds of qualifying, to skip straight into the main draw. </p>
<p>A wild card for a grand slam event is especially coveted, partly for the prestige of the tournament but also on account of the large guaranteed prize money and ranking points (and opportunity to earn more of both).</p>
<p>This is the tenth wild card that Sharapova has received since her return from the ban. Significantly, it is her first wild card for a Grand Slam event, with the French Open declining to offer her one and Wimbledon not having to make the decision on account of her being ruled out with injury. </p>
<p>The USTA have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/sports/tennis/maria-sharapova-us-open-wild-card.html?mcubz=0">attempted to justify its decision</a> to grant Sharapova a wild card on three grounds: Firstly, she has completed her suspension from competition. Secondly, there is a tradition of offering wild cards to previous US Open champions (<a href="http://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/usopen06/news/story?id=2581102">Sharapova having won in 2006</a> ). Thirdly, Sharapova has volunteered to speak to young American players about the importance of tennis’s anti-doping programme. </p>
<p>But they are wrong.</p>
<p>To begin with, it is incorrect to equate the end of Sharapova’s suspension with the end of her punishment. The suspension is only part of the punishment. Another part is the damaging effect that suspension has on her ability to gain entry to tournaments following her return, with a ranking significantly lower than before she was suspended. If the intention were not to impose this type of hardship, returning dopers would be given a “protected ranking” (called a <a href="http://www.wtatennis.com/sites/default/files/rules2017.pdf">WTA Special Ranking</a> on the women’s tour), as happens with players returning from long-term injury, illness, or pregnancy. But they are not. </p>
<p>By granting her wild cards, the tennis hierarchy have effectively excused Sharapova from this aspect of her punishment. In doing so, they express an implied tolerance to doping. Eugenie Bouchard, the Canadian number one, remarked that granting Sharapova wild cards <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/39851644">sends the wrong message</a> to young kids: “Cheat and we will welcome you back with open arms.” </p>
<p>It might be unkind to label Sharapova a “cheat”. The Court of Arbitration for Sport Panel emphasised <a href="http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Award_4643__FINAL__internet.pdf">in its decision</a> that “under no circumstances can … [Sharapova] be considered to be an ‘intentional doper’”. </p>
<p>She was held to be at fault for failing to make sure that substances she had been using for some years <a href="https://theconversation.com/sharapova-drugs-and-the-nature-bias-56006">remained off the banned list</a>. Bouchard is right, though, that granting her wild cards dilutes the condemnation implied by her punishment. </p>
<p>The USTA have also argued that they are following precedent in granting Sharapova a wildcard. Other past champions such as Juan Martin Del Potro have been granted wild cards when their ranking did not secure direct entry to the main draw. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/sports/tennis/juan-martin-del-potro-to-receive-wild-card-into-us-open.html?mcubz=0">Del Potro was granted a wild card</a> in 2016 when his ranking suffered because of a long-term wrist injury. Sharapova has been granted a wild card because her ranking suffered while suspended for doping. These are not like cases. </p>
<h2>Triple fault</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/40941761">Sharapova has promised</a> to provide “anti-doping education”. But given her <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/23/maria-sharapova-tennis-doping">lack of contrition</a> in the 18 months since she was banned, anything she has to say in this context would lack credibility. Nor is it clear how her provision of this service would justify her receipt of a wild card. </p>
<p>Is her willingness to speak thought to indicate contrition, and deemed to count in favour of her wild card? If so, then what happens to the USTA’s position that her doping record was irrelevant because she had served her suspension? Her doping record (and attitude towards it) cannot both be relevant and not relevant.</p>
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<p>Even so, Sharapova should have an opportunity for redemption, and she should be allowed a fresh start. But a fresh start means starting again, not taking up from where she left off before her suspension. It should not involve her being parachuted back to the upper echelons of tennis above thousands of other players who are scrapping it out in lesser tournaments, often in inhospitable conditions and for meagre prize money. </p>
<p>The decision to allow Sharapova to jump the queue is an insult to them, it is a indictment of the USTA, and it is a rotten compromise of sports integrity – for box office sparkle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John William Devine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After a doping ban, the famous sportswoman has been given an underserved break.John William Devine, Lecturer in Sports Ethics and Integrity, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824512017-08-15T10:10:40Z2017-08-15T10:10:40ZHow sport can move on from a championships marked by the booing of Justin Gatlin<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181949/original/file-20170814-28437-1r8k0bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=138%2C92%2C4643%2C2730&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/doping-on-treadmill-679080535">Igor Zvencom/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The World Athletics Championships in London have ended after ten days of surprises and disappointments. A late flurry of medals for the home nation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/12/great-britain-relay-usain-bolt-gold-injured">buoyed the British crowd</a>, and the world watched on as sprint icon Usain Bolt’s career ended with more of a whimper than a bang. But the abiding memory is that of Justin Gatlin, the US sprinter who has twice failed drug tests, facing the boos of the crowd as he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/05/justin-gatlin-usain-bolt-100m-london-2017-world-athletics-championships">triumphed in the 100 metres final</a>.</p>
<p>Many believe that Gatlin should not have been allowed on the track. Instead, he should have been serving a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2017/08/06/justin-gatlin-should-have-banned-life-convicted-drugs-cheat/">lifetime ban</a>. Others go further to propose that dopers should be punished not just by sports governing bodies but by the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/39544930">criminal justice system</a>– doping as fraud by false representation. </p>
<p>Whether or not Gatlin’s punishment should have been more severe, he served his time, and he was there by right. His mistake was in breaking an unwritten rule for returning dopers: “You may be allowed back, but you are not allowed win.” We might add on this occassion: “… and you are definitely not allowed to beat Bolt in his last championship.” </p>
<p>The spectacle of a newly crowned world champion being jeered was embarrassing for athletics, and it served as a reminder of just how deep the problem of doping runs. Along with last year’s <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/38261608">Russian doping scandal</a>, this difficult moment might just provide the necessary impetus for real reform. </p>
<h2>Keep it clean</h2>
<p>Current anti-doping strategy revolves around a key article of faith: clean sport can be achieved by incentivising athletes not to dope. The incentives are applied in two ways: testing and punishment. This allows only two responses to any doping scandal: more testing and more severe punishment. The response is always to raise the stakes for dopers so that the gamble of doping becomes foolish. As appealing as this sounds, the approach has not and will not deliver clean sport.</p>
<p>One can imagine how increased penalties for diving in football or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/jan/06/world-rugby-new-tackle-laws-what-are-they">high tackling in rugby</a> might reduce the prevalence of these rule violations, but doping is different. Doping takes place away from the arena of competition behind locked doors and drawn curtains. Authorities have neither the right nor the funding to monitor all athletes to the level required to ensure it is in their self-interest to compete clean. So, the alignment of the incentives strategy necessarily fails. </p>
<p>Moreover, the accusatory nature of this strategy, where athletes are treated as if they were either dopers or would-be dopers, is counter-productive. If a system implicitly accuses athletes of wanting to cheat, it is no surprise that many of them will live up to expectation: distrust begets untrustworthiness. </p>
<p>Meaningful competition rests on the trustworthiness of athletes. Doping is not unique in this: match-fixing and match manipulation are also resistant to effective oversight. All are dependant on athletes doing the right thing for the right reasons, not simply in the service of their narrow self-interest. However, trustworthiness cannot be cultivated within an incentive-based system designed to side-step it. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181966/original/file-20170814-28472-15agela.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181966/original/file-20170814-28472-15agela.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181966/original/file-20170814-28472-15agela.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181966/original/file-20170814-28472-15agela.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181966/original/file-20170814-28472-15agela.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181966/original/file-20170814-28472-15agela.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181966/original/file-20170814-28472-15agela.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181966/original/file-20170814-28472-15agela.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Leap of faith?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/long-jump-track-field-197522558?src=pkdYTMyHk6RzwzJY7Siprw-1-73">Stefan Schurr/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Moral training</h2>
<p>For the anti-doping movement to make headway, those involved must acknowledge that the testing regime cannot contain the problem. Sport is, and will remain, vulnerable to dopers. Once that is recognised, we can begin to focus on developing among athletes a personal commitment to competing clean. </p>
<p>Sporting authorities should begin by explicitly placing trust in athletes. This involves both abandoning the pretence that dopers are likely to be caught and by emphasising the reliance of sport on the trustworthiness of those within it. Coaches, parents, and volunteers from grassroots level up should cultivate in young athletes a sense of obligation to themselves and to their competitors for how they compete, and an understanding of the values of fairness, participation, and achievement that underpin competition. </p>
<p>Moral training should become a central plank of youth sport coaching alongside physical, tactical, technical and mental training. This would ensure that, by the time athletes reach the upper echelons of competition, honesty and fairness will form part of their self-understanding as athletes, and they will have deeper resources of character to resist the temptation to dope.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181969/original/file-20170814-28430-nd9zht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181969/original/file-20170814-28430-nd9zht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181969/original/file-20170814-28430-nd9zht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181969/original/file-20170814-28430-nd9zht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181969/original/file-20170814-28430-nd9zht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181969/original/file-20170814-28430-nd9zht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181969/original/file-20170814-28430-nd9zht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181969/original/file-20170814-28430-nd9zht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/coachtranier-swimmer-girl-pool-discussing-athlet-533028280?src=gb4KCRe6Ku8IMwkmqFlKJw-1-10">Studio Romantic/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Anti-doping education should also provide a real discussion of the rationale for the ban on performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes must be persuaded of the rational defensibility of the ban, so they can endorse the ideal of clean sport “from the inside”, and as worthy of their commitment, not simply as a set of arbitrary rules imposed from above. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/wada-2015-world-anti-doping-code.pdf">World Anti-Doping Code</a> is notoriously vague on precisely what justifies the ban. Are drugs banned to promote harm prevention, fairness, the purpose of sport or something else entirely? </p>
<h2>Character-building</h2>
<p>Sport must also embrace the need to support returning dopers. The system should go beyond temporary exile, and take seriously the need to prepare dopers for return to (clean) competition. </p>
<p>This shift away from incentives and towards a trust-based approach might seem naive, a move that would expose sport to betrayal by athletes like Gatlin. The real naiveté, though, is in maintaining the specious hope athletes can be incentivised not to dope when the surveillance required to achieve this is neither financially viable nor morally acceptable. A better balance must be struck: the testing regime should serve as a deterrent but only as part of a wider anti-doping programme. </p>
<p>Many parents introduce their children to sport because it builds character for life. But what about building character for sport? Rather than focus energies on the hopeless task of aligning incentives, sport authorities should acknowledge the limitations of this approach, and prioritise rational persuasion and moral education. The task is to shape athletes’ convictions, not just their incentives, because, in the final analysis, the integrity of sport rests on the integrity of sportspeople.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82451/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John William Devine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US sprinter, twice banned after failed drug tests, felt the force of public opinion as he won the 100 metres final at the World Athletics Championship. But is it time to start trusting athletes?John William Devine, Lecturer in Sports Ethics and Integrity, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/819352017-08-08T19:45:42Z2017-08-08T19:45:42ZNicotine in sports: high use but little evidence of effects on performance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181143/original/file-20170807-19163-vrf5q5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Premier league soccer players are some of the team sports athletes who actively use nicotine in competition.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you think nicotine, you probably think of smokers, addiction, carcinogens and disease - not elite athletes and sporting performance.</p>
<p>However, our <a href="https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s40279-017-0764-5?author_access_token=jmV8ui9UEAXHRyIu15tldfe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY41ipJkH97hKydedULWCR77nOpZat2eAufBFgQE1J0xMVdN1depX2q1v7MPJApdi5wbsBBXlhzljHNxUY5wVpFr07aBL5l83fa1lU0kBIPTwA%3D%3D">research</a> published today shows that the use of nicotine among athletes is high and increasing. </p>
<p>In some sports, up to half the team uses nicotine in various forms, mostly as smokeless chewing tobacco or nicotine patches and gum. This led the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/">World Anti-Doping Agency</a> to place <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/WADA_Monitoring_Program_2012_EN.pdf">nicotine on its monitoring programme</a> in 2012, indicating that it could be upgraded to the list of banned substances. </p>
<p>We found little evidence of performance-lifting effects of nicotine use in most published studies.</p>
<h2>Nicotine without smoke</h2>
<p>Together with caffeine, nicotine is considered the most widely used <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15532213">psychoactive substance</a> in the world. It is more potent and more addictive than caffeine. </p>
<p>In the sporting world, particularly in team sports, between a third and a half of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21719221">professional athletes use nicotine</a>. Sportspeople claim that it helps prevent a dry mouth, control body weight and improve concentration and attention. </p>
<p>Some chew tobacco in its moist form known as snus or inhale a dry powder called snuff. Others use nicotine patches, gum, nasal sprays, lozenges or tablets. </p>
<p>Keen soccer fans may remember media <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/englands-jamie-vardy-admits-to-using-nicotine-pouches-a7087876.html">reports</a> last year of Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, after he was pictured in his England jersey, holding an energy drink and pouch of chewing tobacco. This is nothing unusual for America’s major league baseball fans who witness their idols chewing or dipping tobacco.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181144/original/file-20170807-19201-dwhyje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181144/original/file-20170807-19201-dwhyje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181144/original/file-20170807-19201-dwhyje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181144/original/file-20170807-19201-dwhyje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181144/original/file-20170807-19201-dwhyje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181144/original/file-20170807-19201-dwhyje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181144/original/file-20170807-19201-dwhyje.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Snuff or snus: sportspeople use nicotine products that don’t require smoking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search?search_source=base_search_form&language=en&searchterm=smokeless+tobacco&image_type=all">from www.shutterstock.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Nicotine use in winter sports</h2>
<p>Smokeless tobacco has been associated with <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/17/news/companies/smokeless-tobacco-ban-baseball-chicago/index.html">baseball since its inception</a>, and despite being replaced by smoking in the 1950s, returned in the late 1970s. By 2003, the number of major league players regularly using smokeless tobacco was 36 percent. </p>
<p>Ice-hockey is another sport where reports have emerged of 30 to 50 percent of players actively using nicotine. Other professional sports with higher than average (average being the roughly 25 percent worldwide prevalence of smoking tobacco) use of nicotine immediately before or during a game are reported by the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073811002659?via%3Dihub">Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses</a> as American football, bobsleigh, gymnastics, rugby and skiing. </p>
<p>Research into nicotine so far has mostly centred on its pharmacodynamics and smoking cessation. Despite its widespread use among athletes, there has been little research into whether it does actually affect sporting performance, and none into whether it can pose a health risk to this population. </p>
<h2>Performance effects</h2>
<p>In our research we have excluded studies that involved tobacco smoking or smokers. The rationale was that we already known that <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en/">smoking kills about six million people</a> worldwide each year, and that smoked tobacco reduces aerobic and muscular performance. Considerably fewer elite athletes smoke, compared to the general population.</p>
<p>The majority of the ten studies that investigated nicotine use in athletes found no effect on performance (either good or bad). However, two of the five studies that tested nicotine in patches and gum found that it improved <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/expphysiol.2006.033373/abstract;jsessionid=E65DEB15537817A3AB4D797E279C98B1.f03t04">exercise endurance</a> and <a href="https://sportsmedicine-open.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40798-016-0074-8">muscular strength</a>. Also interesting was that of the five studies that reported negative side effects with nicotine (e.g. coughing, sneezing, sore throat, increased heart rate, nausea and dizziness), none reduced exercise performance, and two of these actually found improved performance.</p>
<h2>The unknowns of nicotine use</h2>
<p>It is what hasn’t been tested yet that is probably more worthwhile thinking about. For example, unless you are a current tobacco user, you would be pharmacologically naïve to the drug and your body would respond quite differently to the regular user. </p>
<p>Many athletes stick to the mantra that if some is good, more is better, but with nicotine this could have the opposite effect. At lower doses it acts as a stimulant, but at higher doses it can be a depressant. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-540-69248-5_2">Women appear to metabolise nicotine faster than men and some ethnic differences have also been reported</a>. The different ways nicotine can be consumed can also have consequences on how much nicotine is absorbed, or how long it stays in your system. </p>
<p>Some serious unknowns remain regarding long-term use and both mental and physical health. There is some evidence of increased risk to developing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, promoting tumours and impaired wound healing. Nicotine use also occurs concurrently with several mental health disorders.</p>
<h2>More evidence needed</h2>
<p>Nicotine’s legal status for athletes is currently clear: it is not prohibited. The World Anti-Doping Agency is monitoring its use by athletes, presumably to determine whether there is potential for misuse and to determine whether its use could be altering the spirit of sports. </p>
<p>Certainly, more research is needed to determine the effect of nicotine on athletes in terms of performance enhancement, and health and wellbeing. However, there’s an interesting philosophical and ethical question about who should be funding and driving such research. </p>
<p>Should it be tobacco companies, which have effectively created and cultivated a nicotine-fueled problem, or the pharmaceutical companies that profit handsomely from trying to remedy the effects of tobacco use?</p>
<p>One thing remains clear with regards to nicotine and its use in sports: more evidence is required before anti-doping and governing bodies could consider promoting, coordinating and monitoring any effort against nicotine-containing substances.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81935/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Toby Mündel has received funding from the World Anti-Doping Agency, The Physiological Society and The Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust to support nicotine-related research and travel to present this research at conferences. </span></em></p>The use of nicotine in sports is on the rise, but there is little research investigating whether it has any effect on performance or could pose a health risk.Toby Mündel, Senior Lecturer, School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/798622017-08-07T10:29:47Z2017-08-07T10:29:47ZDoping: why some athletes are reluctant to speak out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180027/original/file-20170727-8525-12le6y5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">pexels photo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New research exploring <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312664009_I_don't_know_if_I_would_report_them_Student-athletes'_thoughts_feelings_and_anticipated_behaviours_on_blowing_the_whistle_on_doping_in_sport">whistleblowing in sport</a> shows that athletes are generally hesitant to report doping. This is despite the fact that these same athletes are opposed to personally using banned substances. </p>
<p>This hesitation can largely be put down to the fact that whistleblowing on doping presents a true moral dilemma – with two equally valid and demanding moral options. As an athlete, do you report doping behaviour to protect the integrity of sport, or keep quiet to protect the individual’s career, reputation and well-being? </p>
<p>While on the surface reporting doping may seem straightforward, it rarely is. There are often multiple variables to consider – an athlete may share the same coach who is administering the banned substances, may be friends with the person, or may feel pressured (by other athletes) to remain quiet. Then there are the potential social consequences for the whistleblower – being shunned, bullied or discredited. </p>
<p>Despite the reluctance among athletes to report doping, the use of prohibited substances and methods arguably threatens the integrity of sport. And this is in part why anti-doping governing bodies worldwide are increasingly recognising the critical role that whistleblowers can play in disclosing doping behaviour. </p>
<h2>Best foot forward</h2>
<p>The updated <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/wada-2015-world-anti-doping-code.pdf">World Anti-Doping Code</a> now includes provisions to reduce – or eliminate – doping sanctions if athletes committing an anti-doping rule violation provide “substantial assistance” to authorities. This is a significant move as it offers an incentive for people to assume the role of whistleblower. </p>
<p>What this means in real terms is that if an athlete provides information on someone else’s doping behaviours, their own doping penalty may be reduced. In the UK, athletics athlete <a href="http://www.ukad.org.uk/news/article/athletics-coach-dr-george-skafidas-receives-lifetime-ban-from-all-sport">Bernice Wilson experienced this</a> when her proposed doping sanction was reduced from 40 to 10 months after she gave information about her coach’s involvement. He in turn received a lifetime ban from sport.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180031/original/file-20170727-8492-1skk442.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180031/original/file-20170727-8492-1skk442.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180031/original/file-20170727-8492-1skk442.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180031/original/file-20170727-8492-1skk442.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180031/original/file-20170727-8492-1skk442.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180031/original/file-20170727-8492-1skk442.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180031/original/file-20170727-8492-1skk442.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It needs to be easier for athletes to report doping concerns across all sports without fear of reprisal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels photo.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To further incentivise whistleblowing, considerable resources have been directed towards anonymous reporting hotlines. This includes the World Anti-Doping Agency’s <a href="https://speakup.wada-ama.org/WebPages/Public/FrontPages/Default.aspx">Speak Up!</a> platform and its accompanying <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/whistleblowingprogram_policy_procedure_en.pdf">whistleblowing program</a>, which outlines the rights whistleblowers have in these situations. </p>
<p>This is a positive and necessary step forward, but it is questionable whether policy and procedures will sufficiently address the inherent complexity of whistleblowing – or diminish the significant personal costs that can follow disclosure.</p>
<h2>Speaking out</h2>
<p>Former British marathon runner Mara Yamauchi has previously written on her personal blog about the issues surrounding whistleblowing in sport. In her post: “<a href="https://www.marayamauchi.com/single-post/56a7a54b0cf22a61cccf961b">Doping: athletes speaking out</a>” Yamauchi lists ten reasons she believes underpin athletes’ hesitation towards whistleblowing on doping. </p>
<p>Based on her experience as an international athlete, the list essentially reiterates the true moral dilemma that whistleblowing presents – will it be worth it? Will anyone listen? How will others regard you after you disclose the information?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180029/original/file-20170727-8516-1bmal4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180029/original/file-20170727-8516-1bmal4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180029/original/file-20170727-8516-1bmal4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180029/original/file-20170727-8516-1bmal4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180029/original/file-20170727-8516-1bmal4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180029/original/file-20170727-8516-1bmal4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/180029/original/file-20170727-8516-1bmal4z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cycling has been overshadowed by doping scandals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On top of all the points raised by Yamauchi, there is also the issue that, historically, whistleblowing incidents in sport have generally not been received well. The consequences of speaking out on doping in sport can be severe. </p>
<p>You only have to look at Yulia Stepanova and Vitaly Stepanov – the Russian couple who blew the whistle on doping practices in Russian athletics – to see the impact it can have. For this couple, their <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russian-doping-whistleblowers-fear-for-lives-1.3721785">lives have been changed forever</a> by their decision to come forward with information on systematic doping and criminal behaviour in Russia. They <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/13/russian-whistleblower-yuliya-stepanova-hacked-wada">have had to relocate</a> to a new country for their own safety and the negative reactions towards <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jun/19/sepp-blatter-fifa-president-corruption-">their choice to whistleblow continue</a> – Stepanova has been called a traitor by her former coach and was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/25/yuliya-stepanova-whistleblower-rio-olympics-ban-ioc">banned from taking part in the Rio Olympics</a> in 2016. </p>
<h2>State of sport</h2>
<p>Closer to home, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jun/18/athletes-british-bobsleigh-canoeing-uk-sport?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">a recent piece in The Guardian</a> outlined numerous disincentives for speaking out in British sporting culture. These include things such as athletes being marginalised, ostracised and losing lottery funding. Not to mention the possibility that a future career in sport – such as becoming a coach – can be jeopardised.</p>
<p>Given sport and the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/38884801">public’s reactions towards whistleblowing</a> cases to date, those involved in sport will no doubt be watching closely to see how whistleblowing incidents are dealt with going forward.</p>
<p>Uncovering doping in sport often depends on the willingness of those aware of – or suspecting – doping behaviours to speak up. So it is critical that sport creates and maintains a culture that is open and supportive of people coming forward with information on wrongdoing. Because without this, voices will likely remain silenced and doping behaviour undisclosed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelsey Erickson received funding from the International Athletics Foundation to conduct the whistleblowing research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Backhouse has received funding from the IOC. She has research partnerships with the Rugby Football Union and the English and Wales Cricket Board. She collaborates with the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Council for Coaching Excellence.</span></em></p>Doping whistleblowers can face serious negative consequences including threats on their lives.Kelsey Erickson, Research fellow in Anti-Doping, Leeds Beckett UniversitySusan Backhouse, Director of Research and Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Nutrition, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/719282017-01-26T13:48:54Z2017-01-26T13:48:54ZUsain Bolt has lost an Olympic gold medal thanks to a team-mate on methylhexanamine – here’s what it is<p>Last summer, the world shared in Usain Bolt’s infectious enthusiasm as he achieved a remarkable “triple treble” of Olympic golds in the same three sprint events. So news that he will <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/38744846">lose one of them</a> was a sudden drenching in cold water.</p>
<p>Bolt himself is not at all to blame, which must make the news even harder to take – but this has been coming for a while. Last June, it emerged that Nesta Carter, one of Bolt’s team members in the 4 x 100m relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics had tested positive for methylhexaneamine, also known as 1,3-dimethylamylamine and DMAA, when a urine sample taken in 2008 was re-examined.</p>
<p>Yesterday, the <a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/IOC/Who-We-Are/Commissions/Disciplinary-Commission/BRT-III-005-Decision-of-the-Disciplinary-Commission-Nesta-CARTER.pdf#_ga=1.231576607.1474457394.1485414698">International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced</a> that Carter – and the other members of the quartet, Bolt, Michael Frater and Asafe Powell – would lose their gold medals for that event. The Jamaican Olympic Association – and Carter himself – <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/38757620">may appeal</a>.</p>
<p>But what is <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01237a032">Methylhexaneamine</a>? It was first reported in 1944 by two chemists working at the American pharmaceutical manufacturer, Eli Lilly. They were trying to make a substance that would supplant <a href="http://www.drugwise.org.uk/amphetamines/">amphetamine</a> as a nasal decongestant. Eli Lilly marketed methylhexaneamine under the trade name Forthane from 1948 until they withdrew it from the market in 1983. It is not that difficult for an organic chemist to make, however, and it would not require a sophisticated laboratory to do it. It is widely available on the internet. </p>
<p>Although methylhexaneamine is not a member of the amphetamine family, it has similar effects in the body and it has been suggested that the molecule can wrap itself into an amphetamine-like shape so that it can plug into the same bodily receptors as amphetamines.</p>
<h2>Performance enhancer?</h2>
<p>More recently, Methylhexaneamine has been used as a stimulant, especially when <a href="https://www.drugs.com/ephedrine.html">ephedrine</a> was <a href="http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2004/ucm108281.htm">banned for everything but medical use in 2004</a>. As well as dietary supplements, it found its way into weight loss products and it was claimed that it could also improve athletic performance.</p>
<p>Back in 1996, some Chinese researchers reported finding methylhexaneamine occuring naturally <a href="https://www.antidoping.ch/sites/default/files/downloads/2014/article_2_-_ying_zhang_et_all_2012.pdf.pdf">in a sample of geranium oil</a>. Several other research groups haven’t been able to <a href="https://www.antidoping.ch/sites/default/files/downloads/2014/methylhexaneamine.pdf">repeat that finding</a>, while <a href="http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/23843687">others have</a>. Possibly, it is only produced by some geranium plants. </p>
<p>At events, people started calling it <a href="http://geranamine.org">“geranamine”</a>. Some have suggested that this was a marketing ploy, a way of making it sound more like a “natural” chemical. Nevertheless, it is now on the prohibited list of the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/questions-answers/prohibited-list#item-384">World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)</a>. Regulations also warn against taking such substances accidentally: “Ultimately, the athlete is solely responsible for the substances in his or her body.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154383/original/image-20170126-23845-zfq3or.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154383/original/image-20170126-23845-zfq3or.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154383/original/image-20170126-23845-zfq3or.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154383/original/image-20170126-23845-zfq3or.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154383/original/image-20170126-23845-zfq3or.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154383/original/image-20170126-23845-zfq3or.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154383/original/image-20170126-23845-zfq3or.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Methylhexanamine (dimethylamylamine, DMAA) stimulant molecule. 3D rendering. Atoms are represented as spheres with conventional colour coding: hydrogen (white), carbon (grey), nitrogen (blue).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/methylhexanamine-dimethylamylamine-dmaa-stimulant-molecule-3d-488414323?src=xZvB7yMwW8Zlq3SQ9JvwtQ-1-3">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Drug of the year’</h2>
<p>By 2010, it certainly had come to prominence and was named <a href="https://sportsscientists.com/2010/12/drug-of-the-year-methylhexanamine-and-the-supplement-industry/">“drug of the year” by one publication</a>. At that year’s Delhi Commonwealth Games, women’s 100m champion Damola Osayemi also lost her gold medal after <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/9078690.stm">testing positive for it</a>.</p>
<p>Its presence does not seem to have been advertised in some supplements. Simon Mensing, a Scottish footballer, received a short ban in 2011 when methylhexaneamine turned up in a post-match urine sample. He said it had not been listed in the contents of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/feb/28/hamilton-simon-mensing-banned">dietary supplement he had taken</a>, a claim that was accepted by the authorities.</p>
<p>And at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, German biathlete <a href="https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-sanctions-german-biathlete-evi-sachenbacher-stehle-for-failing-anti-doping-test-at-the-sochi-games">Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle</a>, received a two-year ban – although this was subsequently reduced on appeal to six months, on the grounds that there <a href="http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Media_Release_3685.pdf">was accidental contamination</a> and her “degree of fault was minimal”.</p>
<p>But worse than that can happen. Like amphetamine, methylhexaneamine affects heart rate and blood pressure, and it has been linked with <a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/1157413">panic attacks, seizures, liver damage and a stress-induced thickening of the heart</a>.</p>
<p>At one time, “party pills” in New Zealand contained methylhexaneamine, and a 21-year-old man suffered a cerebral haemorrhage after <a href="http://www.thepoisonreview.com/2011/01/08/dmaa-a-new-party-pill/">taking two of them, along with caffeine and alcoholic drinks</a>. It has also been implicated in the deaths of two soldiers who took it in <a href="http://militarymedicine.amsus.org/doi/pdf/10.7205/MILMED-D-12-00265">dietary supplements</a>.</p>
<p>The most publicised case was that of 30-year-old Claire Squires, who collapsed and died from a heart attack a mile from the end of the 2012 London Marathon. She had unwittingly consumed an energy drink which contained <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jan/30/claire-squires-runner-dmaa-fatal">methylhexaneamine</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps we should reflect that taking performance-enhancing substances can have far worse consequences than losing a gold medal.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Cotton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of Bolt’s 4 x 100m team mates has tested positive for a banned substance – costing Bolt one of his gold medals.Simon Cotton, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/711012017-01-11T07:49:08Z2017-01-11T07:49:08ZRussia’s headlong rush into populism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152247/original/image-20170110-29000-38wgdu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vladimir Putin has developed populism across many fields, from his own image to Russian sport and media.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.kremlin.ru/press/photo">Kremlin Press office</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s very possible that, in 2017, Donald Trump <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/01/09/trump-could-revisit-russia-sanctions-top-aide-says/n8y6zkW3y5UteFVWsjcXhN/story.html">will attempt to bring Russia</a> back into the fold of civilised nations by lifting sanctions. So understanding the populism of Vladimir Putin’s government is more urgent than ever.</p>
<p>In his <a href="http://institut-etudes-slaves.fr/products-page/histoire-des-idees/loccident-vu-de-russie/">remarkable book</a>, How Russia Sees the West: An Anthology of Russian Thought, from Karamzine to Putin, <a href="http://www.fabula.org/actualites/anthologie-de-la-pensee-russe-de-karamzine-poutine-140-auteurs-choix-presentations-et-traductions_76593.php">published last November</a>, Michel Niqueux defined the tenets of the dominant Russian ideology, inspired by Eurasian intellectuals and turned into policies by Putin:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Anti-West, moral and cultural conservatism, vertical power structure, assertion of military power, definition of a multipolar world as opposed to an unipolar power one headed by the USA, prize of Eurasian unity (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia) after Ukraine’s defection.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although accurate, this description misses the key element of the ideology that has dominated Russia since 2000: a populism founded on a nihilistic view of the truth, <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2016/12/16/01003-20161216ARTFIG00362-viols-meurtres-la-russie-propose-une-telerealite-sans-aucune-limite.php">state propaganda</a> and a kleptocratic approach to power.</p>
<h2>Putin’s neo-imperialism</h2>
<p>Before <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-unaccountable-death-of-boris-nemtsov">he was assassinated</a> just yards from the Kremlin on February 27 2015, Putin’s political opponent, Boris Nemstov, <a href="http://www.putin-itogi.ru/putin-voina/">wrote a report</a> in which he accused the Russian president of pursuing a policy of warlike populism in order to bolster his approval ratings, which were at their <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-putin-approval-idUSBRE9B212G20131203">lowest</a> since 2012. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2014-04-17/russias-latest-land-grab">annexation of Crimea</a> on March 18 2014 aimed to rekindle Russian pride, as did attempts to incite a <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30131108">pro-Russian uprising</a> in the region referred to as Novorossiya, in May 2014. These met with partial failure: while Russian intelligence forces, led by Colonel Igor Girkin, were able to occupy the Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, Kharkov and Odessa (where Russian is the primary language for a majority of the population) did not join in the revolt.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151761/original/image-20170104-18668-1kge441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151761/original/image-20170104-18668-1kge441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151761/original/image-20170104-18668-1kge441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151761/original/image-20170104-18668-1kge441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151761/original/image-20170104-18668-1kge441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151761/original/image-20170104-18668-1kge441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151761/original/image-20170104-18668-1kge441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/unisgeneva/4884765831/in/photolist-ewEtK5-9qDYbG-7KvEft-7hWKh6-gG3XY4-4jPYvF-3qabQw-8rGMzu-8rDGAP-5vnRFk-8rDGCR-8rGMDG-6zy16Q-8rGMyu-9C1C8N-awzCeU-8rGMsw-8rDGGx-8rDGHz-aGA9J-8rDGA4-8rGMCQ-7cQkt3-HVcN2-8rDGBB-F7PtcD-F7PrXp-GjTb1s-FrHQpW-8rDGDT-8rGMrm-cs1D2d-4V1onq-4V1oUm-4UWaGp-5YSAiM-4V1oub-4UWazK-Lh9Zw-yzwQE2">UN/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1980s, those in the USSR who still thought they were on top of the world must have felt the scales fall from their eyes following Mikhail Gorbachev’s <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/perestroika-and-glasnost"><em>perestroika</em> reforms</a>. Suddenly, new media transparency (<a href="http://www.tamupress.com/product/Gorbachevs-Glasnost,4053.aspx"><em>glasnost</em></a>) revealed to a stunned people that they had lived under a regime that, according to historian Stéphane Courtois, was responsible for <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674076082&content=reviews">more than a hundred million deaths</a> in the 20th century.</p>
<p>Then came the <a href="https://economics.rabobank.com/publications/2013/september/the-russian-crisis-1998/">1998 collapse of the rouble</a>, coupled with high inflation. This second shock led many Russians to believe that a democratic, capitalist system was ill-suited to Russia. Of course, no one explained that the system they were living under in the 1990s was undemocratic, since the state apparatus hadn’t been de-sovietised. Neither was it capitalist in nature, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379497831174">especially after the 1995 elections</a>, which gave a majority to the communist party in parliament. </p>
<p>Such was the situation when Boris Yeltsin handed over power to Vladimir Putin, then head of the secret services, in 1999. The majority of the population saw Putin as a lesser evil.</p>
<p>At the same time, the government in Moscow <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187936651100011X">reaped the rewards</a> of a fivefold rise in petrol prices between 1998 and 2012. Russians could rejoice at the improvement in their standard of living, although it was clearly understood that the main beneficiaries would be <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/12/18/how-he-and-his-cronies-stole-russia/">the new oligarchy serving President Putin</a>.</p>
<h2>New smokescreens</h2>
<p>Since coming to power, Putin has been fanning the flames of resentment in millions of Russians made increasingly desperate by the realisation that the end of communism has not automatically delivered them to a capitalist El Dorado. In 2014, he sold them on the notion that the annexation of Crimea was their way back <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26769481">to glory and international respect</a>. However, as <a href="http://www.actes-sud.fr/catalogue/sciences-politiques-et-geopolitique/le-rapport-nemtsov">Michel Elchaninoff</a> has explained, this tactic was a double-edged sword.</p>
<p>In spite of state censorship, no one in Russia can be ignorant of the fact that an overwhelming majority in the <a href="http://www.un.org/press/en/2014/ga11493.doc.htm">UN</a> and <a href="https://europa.eu/newsroom/highlights/special-coverage/eu_sanctions_en">all EU member states</a> condemn the annexation. The Kremlin feels therefore that it must rush headlong into further action, constantly coming up with smokescreens to assure the population that their <a href="http://www.esprit.presse.fr/article/arjakovsky-antoine/collectif-le-rapport-nemtsov-poutine-et-la-guerre-38889">once humiliated nation is now rising up again and can dictate terms to the world</a>.</p>
<p>This populist spirit can be seen in two seemingly disparate demonstrations on the international stage: the Olympic Games (London in 2012, but chiefly Sochi in February 2014) and the bombing of Aleppo from October to December 2016.</p>
<h2>Soviet-style use of sports</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152309/original/image-20170110-29028-j5w2pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152309/original/image-20170110-29028-j5w2pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152309/original/image-20170110-29028-j5w2pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152309/original/image-20170110-29028-j5w2pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152309/original/image-20170110-29028-j5w2pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152309/original/image-20170110-29028-j5w2pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152309/original/image-20170110-29028-j5w2pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Putin playing ice hockey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.kremlin.ru/press/photo">Kremlin Press Office</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the Soviet era, sport was always an effective way of rallying the people. Similarly, the Putin government’s policy of pursuing prestigious Russian sporting victories — by any means necessary — aims to please a people still bristling from the break-up of the USSR and suffering from neoliberal globalisation.</p>
<p>The Winter Olympic Games held in Sochi in February 2014, the most expensive in history, provide a good example. <a href="http://affaires.lapresse.ca/economie/international/201402/21/01-4741348-jo-22-milliards-en-corruption.php">According to the Anticorruption Foundation</a>, an organisation run by opponents of the Putin government and financed by citizens, US$13.5 billion to US$22.5 billion of the US$45 billion bill can be attributed to corruption. Vladimir Ashurkov, the foundation’s executive director, <a href="http://affaires.lapresse.ca/economie/international/201402/21/01-4741348-jo-22-milliards-en-corruption.php">stated</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In Russia, 13 million people do not have access to hot water and 9 million live in unsanitary conditions. Under these circumstances, is it really a good idea to spend $45 billion on the Olympic Games?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Grigory Rochenkov, former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Agency, told <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/sports/russia-doping-sochi-olympics-2014.html?_r=0">The New York Times</a> that Russian athletes benefited from systematic doping, overseen by the Department of Sport during the Sochi games. </p>
<p>These accusations echo <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-russian-doping-at-sochi-winter-olympics-exposed/">those of Vitali Stepanov</a>, former inspector for the Russian Anti-Doping Agency during the London summer Olympics in 2012, which sparked a scandal that <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/10/sport/russia-doping-report-shocking-things/">rocked Russian athletics</a> in November 2015.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151764/original/image-20170104-18662-da9th0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151764/original/image-20170104-18662-da9th0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151764/original/image-20170104-18662-da9th0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151764/original/image-20170104-18662-da9th0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151764/original/image-20170104-18662-da9th0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151764/original/image-20170104-18662-da9th0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151764/original/image-20170104-18662-da9th0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi, February 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/2014_Winter_Olympics_opening_ceremony_%282014-02-07%29_11.jpg/640px-2014_Winter_Olympics_opening_ceremony_%282014-02-07%29_11.jpg">premier.gov.ru/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren filed <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/doping-control-process/mclaren-independent-investigation-report-part-i">a detailed report</a> for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on July 18 2016, regarding the doping system that was in place in Russia from 2001 to 2005. </p>
<p>Following its publication, and on the grounds that this system, organised by Russian secret service “<a href="http://www.lepoint.fr/sport/jo-2016-dopage-en-russie-le-grand-malentendu-05-08-2016-2059313_26.php">magicians</a>”, was still flourishing, <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/08/more-than-100-russian-athletes-banned-from-olympics.html">118 Russian athletes were banned</a> from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. </p>
<h2>Headlong into Aleppo</h2>
<p>In September 2015, <a href="https://europa.eu/newsroom/highlights/special-coverage/eu_sanctions_en">held at a stalemate due to sanctions</a> and the Ukrainian army, the Russian government found a new outlet for Russian pride in the country’s military intervention in Syria. </p>
<p>The United States’ 2013 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/31/syrian-air-strikes-obama-congress%22">refusal to retaliate</a> against the use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces was seen by the Kremlin as permission to set itself up <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/europe/russia-orthodox-church.html">as the protector of Christians in the East</a>. </p>
<p>Russia’s involvement in Syria was <a href="https://theconversation.com/syrias-war-of-extermination-signals-the-end-of-the-international-community-66708%22">also a way</a> of telling the UN that its founding principles were ill-adapted to 21st century international crises. The same applies to <a href="http://www.euronews.com/2016/12/29/osce-hit-by-cyber-attack-russian-hackers-suspected">the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe</a>, which Russia intends to obstruct in its role as a mediator in European conflicts.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/turkey-turns-closer-to-russia-after-ambassador-assassination-70733">The assassination</a> on December 19 2016 of Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey to shouts of “Don’t forget Aleppo” was clearly not part of Russia’s plan. Similarly, a <a href="https://pulsemedia.org/2016/12/15/russia-today-and-the-post-truth-virus/">conspiracy video published on YouTube</a> by Russia Today did not have the intended effect. The video was meant to show that Western criticism of the relentless bombing of civilians in Aleppo was completely unfounded, but its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.fr/us/this-is-how-russia-thinks-about-fake-news-and-media-manipulation-2016-12/">arguments</a> were swiftly discredited.</p>
<p>However, these international setbacks and debates do not affect the Kremlin’s pursuit of its — chiefly domestic — goals. <a href="http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russia-turkey-iran-to-meet-in-moscow-on-syria.aspx?pageID=238&nID=107467&NewsCatID=510">The meeting</a> of Syrian, Iranian and Turkish diplomats in Moscow on December 20 2016 (from which European diplomats were absent) was given extensive coverage on Russian television. </p>
<p>It served as a demonstration that Russia is now at the vanguard of efforts aimed at rebuilding the geopolitical balance in the Middle East.</p>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en/">Fast for Word</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71101/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Antoine Arjakovsky travaille pour Collège des Bernardins</span></em></p>Understanding the populism of the Putin government is more urgent than ever as Russia plays a major geopolitical role in the Middle-Eastern balance.Antoine Arjakovsky, historien, directeur de recherche, Collège des BernardinsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/705422017-01-04T12:55:18Z2017-01-04T12:55:18ZSport offers us a tumultuous time of ethical highs and lows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151371/original/image-20161222-17305-1nm18w4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=155%2C26%2C1293%2C725&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hleung/486414071/in/photolist-JYZXv-dJTeWK-ehbymM-4dHUEn-79RuFt-fNHRNu-muXn4D-JYZPk-4JGao1-bcyqyT-djthZU-a9k9Yk-9AGers-9BwE6V-bjAx39-b2jkZT-dctsaG-dfcwX2-eeskZg-7c9PUS-4ExM7k-cNEPQA-4bGoKp-6grWt7-b2jjCp-b2mHKx-p6Qn4u-PbDeq-a22AMW-qFvzEj-8GtZ5e-7KxfX2-ai12xK-oMmJSo-4x3eif-8rdbW6-QXaMe-9kgUNv-9tgLRT-7zKW7D-5iNst-6bSm8y-9S8prH-7UNxZg-9kgV1P-f1xuWN-JYZxr-psxWwL-3aKyZ4-7TW6HG">HKmPUA/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sport provides two types of clarity often denied to us in life. There is a clarity of purpose in the attempt to cross the finish line before your opponents, and there is clarity of outcome: either victory or defeat. However, an ethical reflection on sport resists such clarity. For cheating and corruption can at once reveal ethical failure in victors, courage in whistleblowers, and progress (or otherwise) in sports governance. There can be no easy classification of the ethical highs and lows. But as we start 2017, are we at least putting into place the pieces that might make this year more peaks than troughs?</p>
<p>These days every year begins with an update to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) <a href="http://list.wada-ama.org/">list of prohibited substances and methods</a>. In 2016, the inclusion of meldonium – a treatment which improves blood flow – precipitated many failed tests across many sports and one high profile casualty: <a href="https://theconversation.com/taking-her-medicine-maria-sharapova-grand-slammed-56175">tennis star Maria Sharapova</a>, who claimed use of meldonium for health reasons and blamed an oversight its continued use after the ban. Her case served as yet another example that the problem of potential doping extends right up to the very pinnacle of sport. Nevertheless, we can take heart from the fact that the highest paid female athlete in the world was not deemed too big to fail. </p>
<h2>Russian dilemma</h2>
<p>The doping theme remained prominent as the year progressed with Richard McLaren’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/dec/10/second-mclaren-report-questions-russian-doping">two-part report</a> that accused Russia of state-sponsored doping on an unprecedented scale. The timing of the first part of the report, just weeks prior to the start of the Rio Olympics and the Paralympics, threw the games into disarray. Should Russian athletes be allowed to compete? Should all Russian athletes be excluded or only those who trained in Russia? Who should decide the issue anyway: the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or individual sporting governing bodies? </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/04/richard-mclaren-ioc-wada-russia-rio-2016-">IOC seemed uncertain</a> about whether they had the power to take the kind of action for which journalists, sports administrators, and the general public clamoured: an outright ban on all Russian athletes. </p>
<p>Eventually, the matter was decided, somehow, between international federations and a small IOC sub-committee. Not all Russian sportsmen and women were excluded in the end, but <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/25/yuliya-stepanova-whistleblower-rio-olympics-ban-ioc">Yuliya Stepanova</a>, the whistleblower whose testimony sparked the McLaren investigation, paid the price for her courage, as she was banned from the games. It was sports governance on the hoof, and it brought scant consolation to existing or potential whistleblowers. </p>
<p>With the Paralympic Games taking place after the Olympics, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) had more time to deliberate. They decided to <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/news/ipc-suspends-russian-paralympic-committee-immediate-effect">ban the entire Russian contingent</a>. One might admire the IPC’s tough stance in the interests of clean competition or bemoan the injustice to honest athletes who happened to be Russian. Again, ethical highs and lows are not so easily parsed.</p>
<p>The Russians protested, not without some merit, that the McLaren Report relied on one-sided whistleblowing and afforded them no adequate opportunity to reply to the allegations made. Part two of the report, however, <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/doping-control-process/mclaren-independent-investigation-report-part-ii">substantiated many of the allegations</a> and provided evidence that Russian doping was both systematic and widespread. It asserted that between 2011 and 2015 more than 1,000 Russian athletes were:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Involved in or benefited from [a] systematic and centralised cover up and manipulation of the doping control process. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Shining in the gloom</h2>
<p>Amid cheating, reporting, and punishing in 2016, a handful of athletes proved that sportsmanship is not dead (just yet). One of the highlights of the Olympics came in the women’s 5,000 metres, where New Zealander Nikki Hamblin and US runner Abbey D’Agostino collided after Hamblin tripped four laps from the end of their heat. </p>
<p>D’Agostino quickly got to her feet, and seeing that Hamblin still lay on the track, helped her up. Both athletes then continued to run, but within a few yards, roles were reversed when it became clear that D’Agostino had injured her right ankle from the fall. Hamblin was then the one to stop and attend to her injured opponent. The two embraced at the finish line and, despite not meeting the qualifying time, were rewarded with a place in the final. </p>
<p>A similar story can be told of the Brownlee brothers in the World Triathlon Series in Mexico. Alistair gave up his chance to win the race so that he could help his brother, Jonny, suffering from severe dehydration, over the finishing line. Common humanity need not be lost in the heat of competition. </p>
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<p>The year drew to a close with another whistleblower, Andy Woodward, waiving his right to anonymity to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38399324">speak publicly about the sexual abuse</a> he endured as a young footballer at the hands of his then coach, Barry Bennell. This encouraged many others to come forward to speak of the abuse they too had suffered in English football during the 70s, 80s and 90s. Despite global developments to protect and safeguard children and youths in sport, the sheer scale of the case has shocked the football establishment, and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/12/21/youngest-victim-football-child-abuse-investigation-four-years/">the police investigation now involves</a> more than 400 victims and 150 potential suspects. The bravery of some sports people – Stepanova and Woodward notably in 2016 – ensures we are at least fighting the right battles. </p>
<p>And we should celebrate some institutional ethical progress too. In the past year, the international governing bodies for both tennis (ITF) and ice-hockey (IIHF) have established ethics and integrity committees, adding to those already in place within athletics (IAAF), football (FIFA), and the Olympic movement (IOC). </p>
<p>In addition, the European Commission recently awarded €3m to a consortium of universities, including Swansea, to develop a new role of sports ethics and integrity officers" <a href="http://www.maisi-project.eu">within sports administration and governance</a>. These developments signal that both government and governing bodies are finally getting serious about cheating and corruption in sport. Even if clarity about the need for these developments was achieved only in the midst of crisis, sports governance may finally come of age in 2017.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70542/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael McNamee sits on the Ethics Committee for the International Ice Hockey Federation, and on the Ethics Panel of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for a sports-related project and is on the Consortium Board of Management for the MAiSI project, which has received funding from the European Commission.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John William Devine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From Sharapova to the Brownlee brothers, 2016 has given us one step forward to one step back.Michael McNamee, Professor of Applied Ethics, Swansea UniversityJohn William Devine, Lecturer in Sports Ethics and Integrity, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/703652016-12-16T16:55:52Z2016-12-16T16:55:52ZFive questions for cycling chief Dave Brailsford<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/150317/original/image-20161215-26027-15vbt5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=73%2C202%2C1664%2C1045&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cfeatherstone/8640434092/in/photolist-eawu2A-bxCkGb-AYRkj6-A1YKpK-AjUtud-AXSiCP-AjUb6K-AVz7DG-A1QDfY-8vAsxM-ffj5zP-ffj5yT-iFQYiv-iFSHDA-aqLt3U-8PVXWa-8PZ9yJ-8PZ5xf-bxCohf-bLwYxv-bLwXQH-bxCnbh-bxChEJ-bxCmL9-bLwZsX-bLx69Z-bxCkVE-bLwYiF-bxCnpb-bLx4ui-bxChrs-bxCjEw-bLx1en-bLwXbR-bxCg5U-bLx6nk-bxCmjA-bxCnNU-bxCkhY-bLwZV4-bLx32r-bxCi7N-bLwYMp-bxCitd-bLx5ac-bxCjr7-bxCjS9-bxCk3S-bLx3FZ-ADzbkT">@ruby_roubaix/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his role as boss of professional cycling team Team Sky and former performance director for British Cycling, Dave Brailsford has enjoyed extraordinary success. His oversight started the ball rolling on an impressive haul of Olympic medals for Team GB over three tournaments, while Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36879128">have delivered four victories since 2012</a> in the pro-sport’s prestige event, the Tour de France.</p>
<p>Brailsford, who was knighted in 2013, <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/culture-media-and-sport-committee/">will give evidence</a> on Dec 19 before a British parliamentary select committee looking at doping in sport. His appearance involves no accusation that he ever allowed doping in his teams. However, he will face scrutiny over the fact that some highly successful riders have used medical products that could enhance their performance under the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) system. </p>
<p>This issue of TUEs was brought to the fore after athletes’ private medical records, kept by anti-doping agencies, were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/21/fancy-bears-leaks-athletes-doping-russia-cyber-hackers">hacked by a group called the Fancy Bears and publicised</a>, a move that prompted some athletes to justify their <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2016/09/13/us-superstars-serena-and-venus-williams-and-simone-biles-given-d/">use of medical products</a> as well as raising questions about the <a href="http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/fancy-bears-target-nados/">motivation behind the hack</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.damiancollins.com/">Damian Collins</a>, chair of the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, said <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2016/10/27/mps-want-answers-about-sir-bradley-wigginss-mystery-medical-parc/">MPs would focus attention</a> on “the ethics of the use of TUEs and the way this is policed by British Cycling”.</p>
<h2>Grey area</h2>
<p>Obtaining a TUE is far from unusual. Many elite athletes require medications that are banned under the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/the-code">World Anti-Doping Code</a>. If a doctor prescribes the drug for an identifiable condition, then it is perfectly acceptable. In that sense, there is no accusation that elite British riders and their doctors broke any rules, as confirmed by the <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-rules-broken-and-no-action-to-follow-in-wiggins-tue-case-says-cookson/">head of the sport’s governing body, Brian Cookson</a>.</p>
<p>However, the TUE application process could be <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/37382825">open to abuse</a> if an unscrupulous doctor and coach decide, for example, that an athlete might benefit from “inventing” an illness to obtain medical drugs. These might include painkillers designed to alleviate the stress on the body during competition, stimulants that give a short-term boost to the central nervous system, and asthma inhalers that improve air flow. There is no suggestion that this has happened at British Cycling or at Team Sky, but it is clearly a grey area for anti-doping. </p>
<p>Brailsford has been a high-profile campaigner against doping – he instituted a policy that no-one with a doping record be allowed in his organisations. However, he <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3841622/Sir-Dave-Brailsford-admits-errors-Team-Sky-package-questions-denies-allegations-wrongdoing.html">drew criticism</a> for his less than forthcoming response to controversy surrounding a mystery package allegedly delivered to Team Sky in June 2011, which is currently the subject of a UK Anti-Doping investigation.</p>
<h2>Key questions</h2>
<p>Ahead of Brailsford’s select committee appearance, I propose five key questions that MPs should put to him:</p>
<p><strong>1.</strong> A great deal of attention has been focused on Wiggins’ use of drugs for allergies and asthma under a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). There is nothing illegal in this. But banned drug triamcinolone (Kenalog), a synthetic corticosteroid used to treat allergies, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/30/bradley-wiggins-full-story-asthma-allergies-tues">used by Wiggins</a> under a TUE prior to his Tour de France campaigns in 2011 and 2012, and his Giro d’Italia ride in 2013.</p>
<p>If there was no breaking of any rules, why wasn’t this a matter of public record much earlier? And did his use of this medicine so close to competition have an effect?</p>
<p><strong>2.</strong> Brailsford has often spoken about the philosophy of marginal gains, whether <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34247629">those be achieved</a> through diet, technology, training methods, pre-emptive healthcare or even sleeping arrangements. Does the legal use of medicines that have a performance-enhancing effect also count towards marginal gains and would such an approach fit with WADA’s idea of the “<a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2013-02/the-spirit-of-sport-and-anti-doping-policy-an-ideal-worth-fighting-for">spirit of sport</a>”?</p>
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<p><strong>3.</strong> British cycling coach Simon Cope has said that he delivered a package in June 2011 ahead of the Criterium du Dauphiné stage race, flying in to hand this over to the team doctor. The circumstances surrounding this have been the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/oct/12/british-cycling-coach-pacackge-team-sky">subject of some debate</a> and Brailsford has admitted he could have handled the story better. The subject is under investigation by UK Anti-Doping and Team Sky said it is “confident” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/oct/08/cycling-team-sky-bradley-wiggins">there was no wrongdoing</a>. Can Brailsford reveal what was in the package and why the contents have not already been explained?</p>
<p><strong>4.</strong> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/37589241">Claims were made</a> in October that at the 2012 road world championships, Team GB riders used the legal but controversial painkiller tramadol. The cyclist Jonathan Tiernan-Locke alleged that the drug was “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2016/10/10/sir-bradley-wiggins-tues-ethically-wrong-according-to-team-sky-t/">freely offered</a>”. Tramadol is not banned in sport but it can cause <a href="http://drugabuse.com/library/the-effects-of-tramadol-use/">nausea, dizziness and drowsiness</a> – and it has been suggested that the latter might be a factor in crashes. </p>
<p>While tramadol is legal, it is a highly powerful drug and is the subject of an an investigation by the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2016/10/19/olympic-chiefs-to-examine-painkiller-in-team-sky-controversy/">International Olympic Committee</a>. Does Tiernan-Locke’s claim have any substance? </p>
<p><strong>5.</strong> Brailsford has a reputation for promoting an anti-doping culture. However, Team Sky has refused to join the pro-active <a href="https://www.mpcc.fr/index.php/en/mpcc-uk">Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC)</a> whose requirements are more rigorous than WADA’s and which has campaigned to have tramadol banned. Can he explain why they took this position towards an organisation which, on the face of it, is aligned with a strong anti-doping stance?</p>
<p>These questions can be answered. It could well be said that no rules have been broken, however, trust is gained through transparency and honesty – and it is far from clear why important aspects of this business have not been publicly resolved. The select committee has an opportunity to seek that transparency; to find out all the drugs that team doctors have ordered, match them to TUEs, and match them to specific races. The outcomes of this research might bring a more definitive outcome to a sorry saga.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dimeo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Team Sky boss is due to give evidence to MP’s at parliament. Here’s what they should ask him.Paul Dimeo, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/687972016-12-13T15:03:22Z2016-12-13T15:03:22ZDoping controls in gyms – ineffective, costly and more common than you think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149398/original/image-20161209-31383-ooto6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/pic-518703730/stock-photo-muscular-man-injecting-steroids-closeup.html?src=mT7S0nfs4_5Bv9k-zG2CZA-1-52">Africa Studio/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anti-doping is not just something that exists in elite sports; it’s increasingly being applied to recreational gym users. While most countries focus on <a href="https://www.virke.no/globalassets/bransje/bransjedokumenter/ehfa.pdf/">prevention and education</a>, a handful have taken the drastic step of introducing doping controls in commercial gyms. In 2003, Belgium became the first country to introduce such measures. Sweden, Denmark and Norway soon followed their lead. </p>
<p>Since the early 2000s, recreational trainers in Belgium – especially in Flanders – have been forbidden from using substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), which governs elite athletes. They also face the same sanctions as elite athletes. To vet people, anti-doping officials use <a href="https://deviantleisure.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/muscle-profiling-anti-doping-policy-and-deviant-leisure/">muscle profiling</a>. Although doping controls are meant to be random, it is often male weight trainers with a more muscular appearance who are tested for the use of steroids. </p>
<p>Police are able to conduct a home search based on a positive test, and an athlete may be subject to both a doping and a drug investigation for the same offence. These people face criminal prosecution for the use or possession of illegal substances and they also face sanctions from the Flemish national anti-doping organisation (NADO). If a person tests positive, and it’s a first offence, they may be banned by NADO Flanders for two years from every gym and any form of organised sport in the region. They may also receive a fine of, on average, €1,000-2,000, although fines can be as high as €25,000. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://journal-tes.dk/vol_14_no_2_page_25/No_7_Nocole_Thualagant.pdf">Denmark</a> any person training in a gym that has entered into a collaboration agreement with Anti-Doping Denmark (the country’s national anti-doping organisation) may be subject to doping controls. Gyms in Denmark must indicate at their entrance and on their website by means of a happy or frowning icon whether or not they are part of this agreement. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.west-info.eu/files/Strategy-for-Stopping-Steroids.pdf">Sweden</a> also has doping controls at training facilities and Norway’s anti-doping strategies have an element of <a href="https://www.virke.no/globalassets/bransje/bransjedokumenter/ehfa.pdf/">monitoring and policing</a>. For instance, fitness centres that adopt the anti-doping programme in Norway receive a licence to carry out tests on members suspected of doping. There is no legal obligation to sign up to be a “Clean Centre”, but gyms that do are perceived to have a reputational advantage. <a href="http://www.antidoping.no/english/news-in-english/clean-centres-on-the-rise/">About half</a> of Norway’s fitness centres now have a Clean Centre certificate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149403/original/image-20161209-31370-c9jgh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149403/original/image-20161209-31370-c9jgh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149403/original/image-20161209-31370-c9jgh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149403/original/image-20161209-31370-c9jgh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149403/original/image-20161209-31370-c9jgh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149403/original/image-20161209-31370-c9jgh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149403/original/image-20161209-31370-c9jgh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Anti-doping officials often use muscle profiling to guess who might be using steroids.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/530968282?src=-G0GgUonxgkhDrnZzNYxbQ-2-77&id=530968282&size=medium_jpg">xmee/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Not a deterrent</h2>
<p>The goal of these doping controls is to deter people from using substances that may be detrimental to their health. But, aside from privacy and human rights issues, such as undressing in front of a doping officer and targeting certain groups, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211266915300086">recent research shows</a> that doping tests in gyms may <a href="http://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1071&context=vulr">be ineffective</a> anyway at preventing or reducing doping use. Rather, there are <a href="http://www.playthegame.org/uploads/media/Ask_Vest_Christiansen_-_Testing_recreational_athletes_01.pdf">possible unintended negative outcomes</a> that may increase health risks. For instance, users may train in basements and private clubs, stop training altogether, displace to other countries with no doping controls, or undertake more dangerous doping practices to avoid a positive test. </p>
<p>Drug testing in schools – including for doping – has proved ineffective in preventing students from <a href="http://www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.15288/jsad.2014.75.65">trying drugs</a> or <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10826084.2015.1010832">doping substances</a>. Not only do doping tests appear to have little deterrent effect, but it also is an <a href="https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/why-did-texas-blow-10-million-to-catch-40-high-school-steroid-users">extraordinarily expensive process</a>. </p>
<p>While it is true that people are <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-bid-for-the-perfect-profile-pic-young-men-are-increasingly-turning-to-steroids-60874">increasingly using steroids and other image enhancing drugs</a>, testing in gyms does not seem to be the answer. If we have learned anything from the war on drugs, it is that repression does little to curb drug use. Instead, it contributes significantly to <a href="http://www.countthecosts.org/sites/default/files/Health-briefing.pdf">health and societal</a> problems. </p>
<p>Criminalising recreational users and elite athletes not only leads to increased stigmatisation and marginalisation, but it maximises the risks associated with use (<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211266915300050">unsafe products</a>) and hinders the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211266912000084">implementation of harm-reduction initiatives</a>. </p>
<p>As it becomes clear that doping use among the general public is a growing phenomenon, we must confront the issue head on. However, the use of performance enhancing drugs in society must be addressed not as a sporting issue nor as a criminal one, but rather as a matter of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687637.2016.1245713">public health</a>. We should focus attention on methods that have proved to be successful in addressing the use of performance and image enhancing drugs within the general population such as <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/sport/news/2014/docs/doping-prevention-report_en.pdf">prevention and education</a>, while seeking to reduce the <a href="https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/49404361/McVeigh_2016_Harm_reduction_interventions_should_encompass_people_who_inject_image_and_performance_enhancing_drugs.pdf">harm associated with its use</a>. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221126691530013X">One study</a> of 15 to 21-year-olds found that combining anti-doping education with practical strength training can help prevent doping. Let’s go with the evidence and put an end to punitive measures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A handful of countries have introduced anti-doping measures in high-street gyms. Let’s nip it in the bud.Katinka van de Ven, Lecturer in Criminology, Birmingham City UniversityKyle J.D. Mulrooney, Ph.D. Fellow, Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/675672016-10-28T06:27:17Z2016-10-28T06:27:17Z‘Juju’ and ‘jars’: how African athletes challenge Western notions of doping<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142976/original/image-20161024-28376-1veevxs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young footballers dream of places far away and are ready to migrate at all costs. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Uroš Kovač</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has expanded the power of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), making it a central authority in the “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/sports/olympics/international-olympic-committee-antidoping-wada.html?_r=0">fight against cheating</a>”. WADA <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/resources/general-anti-doping-information/at-a-glance-about-anti-doping">defines doping</a> as the use of prohibited substances and methods designed to enhance athletic performance. </p>
<p>But are prohibited substances defined only by their chemical makeup? Not according to West African athletes, many of whom take spiritual methods to enhance their performances very seriously.</p>
<p>Football in West Africa is often associated with <a href="http://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/2806">witchcraft</a>. In Nigeria and Cameroon, these practices are referred to as “jars” or “<a href="https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/12906">juju</a>”. Athletes use them to enhance their performance in ways that are similar to doping as WADA defines it, and even to sabotage opponents. The key to these practices, however, is not the chemical content of the substances, but the spiritual powers they carry.</p>
<h2>Spiritual doping</h2>
<p>According to Cameroonian footballers among whom <a href="http://global-sport.eu/football-dreams-pentecostalism-and-migration-in-southwest-cameroon">I conducted my fieldwork</a>, the spiritual world is superimposed on the material world, and actions in the former have direct and far-reaching consequences on the latter. </p>
<p>In West Africa, accusations of spiritual performance-enhancing practices can be much more serious than those involving materials and chemicals.</p>
<p>The concept of “jars” is difficult to pin down, largely because it is shrouded in secrecy and is constantly changing. Information about these practices can be extracted principally from rumours and accusations. Stories allude to small pieces of particular herbs, pieces of tree bark, or small threads that the players acquire from healers who imbue them with supernatural powers.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142978/original/image-20161024-28382-1at75is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142978/original/image-20161024-28382-1at75is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142978/original/image-20161024-28382-1at75is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142978/original/image-20161024-28382-1at75is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142978/original/image-20161024-28382-1at75is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142978/original/image-20161024-28382-1at75is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142978/original/image-20161024-28382-1at75is.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A boot reading ‘Holy Trinity’ shows how young footballers try to tap the power of the Holy Spirit to enhance their performance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo courtesy Uroš Kovač.</span></span>
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<p>Aware of the fact that Cameroonian referees would sanction them if they were caught, the footballers hide them under their shin guards, in their boots, or in the rubber band sockets of their shorts. Others are concoctions of herbs prepared by healers that footballers drink, or wash their face, hands or feet in.</p>
<p>These objects and herbs are performance enhancers and allow the players to accomplish miraculous feats on the field. When some FIFA officials have <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2010-02-21-1447701226_x.htm">expressed concerns</a> about these supposed African forms of doping, they have been suspicious of their chemical content, but neglected their more important spiritual properties.</p>
<p>One could simply discount “jars” as a psychological delusion or as superstition. But the fact that athletes regularly scrutinise and accuse other players of using it indicates that it means much more. When Cameroonian footballers demonstrate extraordinary skills on the field, their opponents and even teammates closely scrutinise them for any evidence of “jars”. </p>
<p>One player told me that, during a match, his opponents forced him to strip down to his underpants in the middle of the field, insisting that he was hiding a spiritual token. Users have also been detected because of the distinct smell of the potions they wash in. </p>
<p>Just as with doping, most footballers in Cameroon are very critical of the use of “jars”, arguing that athletes should do away with it once and for all.</p>
<h2>Age tampering</h2>
<p>Another form of “cheating”, a public secret in the world of international football, is players <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/26174252">lying about their age</a>. Athletes from different parts of the world produce documents to their future clubs that state they are no older than 19 years of age. </p>
<p>In Cameroon, preparation for trials in European football clubs often involves finding ways to obtain documents that show the player to be younger than he actually is.</p>
<p>While the football clubs and sporting bodies seek to catch and sanction the players, West African footballers do not consider the practice as cheating. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142977/original/image-20161024-28414-v5og8l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142977/original/image-20161024-28414-v5og8l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142977/original/image-20161024-28414-v5og8l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142977/original/image-20161024-28414-v5og8l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142977/original/image-20161024-28414-v5og8l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142977/original/image-20161024-28414-v5og8l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142977/original/image-20161024-28414-v5og8l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Footballers in West Africa detest their poor training conditions, and lack of sporting infrastructure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo courtesy Uroš Kovač.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Athletes tamper with their age as a way of equalising the playing field. They attempt to compensate for the fact that aspiring athletes in the Global North, who from a young age have better access to good sports infrastructure and equipment, are in a privileged position to transform their athletic talent into a long-term career. </p>
<p>While international sporting bodies talk about athletes needing to take individual responsibility for different forms of “cheating”, young African footballers address large-scale power relations that they see as being turned against them.</p>
<p>By adjusting their age, the footballers challenge the moral high ground on which international sports institutions claim to stand, and demonstrate how “cheating” is not always cheating, but instead a challenge to unequal power relations.</p>
<h2>What is ‘cheating’ and who defines it?</h2>
<p>WADA’s anti-doping strategies are based on the separation of the body and the mind, the biological and the psychological, the physical and the spiritual. It consistently prioritises the physical, assuming that being a “clean” athlete means being free from prohibited chemicals. </p>
<p>While the kind of regulation that WADA seeks to apply on a global level is useful, it is at odds with the ideas of West African athletes, for whom the spiritual and the physical are deeply entangled.</p>
<p>Is “jars” a form of doping that WADA should attempt to regulate then? Should international sporting bodies clamp down on footballers’ age tampering? Absolutely not. </p>
<p>The importance of spirituality in sport is <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/tim-tebow-brings-in-a-new-wave-of-christian-athleticism-58871/">not</a> <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/i-belong-to-jesus-soccer-superstar-kaka-is-okay-being-second-if-121440/">exclusive</a> to Africa. The Thai owner of Leicester City famously <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/30/leicester-citys-good-karma-the-buddhist-monks-behind-the-foxes-d/">flew buddhist monks in from Thailand</a> to bless the players during the team’s miraculous 2015-2016 season. </p>
<p>The African game gives us a different insight into what “performance-enhancing” and “cheating” really mean. The shift in perspective allows us to avoid taking WADA’s and the IOC’s definitions for granted and stop regarding them as a universal truth. </p>
<p>Instead, we should see them for what they are – hegemonic notions constructed in a certain historical period, developed from a specific philosophical standpoint, and applied from a position of power.</p>
<p><em>This piece was written in collaboration with the <a href="http://global-sport.eu">GLOBALSPORT</a> team, a research project funded by the European Research Council.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Uroš Kovač receives funding from the European Research Council.</span></em></p>What do the concepts like ‘cheating’ and ‘performance enhancing’ mean to young African footballers?Uroš Kovač, Doctoral student in Anthropology, University of AmsterdamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/654892016-09-15T13:06:04Z2016-09-15T13:06:04ZBlack and white anti-doping fight nears stalemate – here’s how to break it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137931/original/image-20160915-30600-y3wtvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C2041%2C1223&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/stopherjones/10112263173/in/photolist-gpzZx4-cTaJz1-d3meoQ-9DGVZJ-g6PoQF-e1vgCC-9V2Fgj-p28upM-6cRmvX-CgqbCR-dZiq1L-e1pDFg-9UYrbi-e1vf73-5ArQbY-cYDZqq-g6PRrL-9DHsM4-9UYW7e-5ABjKF-eSx1Uw-6EZwPq-c6CU7j-oZ6CY7-8y1fdt-e1pE2R-nqxymx-oKh3Xf-cez8xy-e1pAaK-9Vmbh3-p2Jkz9-9ViqEX-5Ao27P-gpzp7H-9cmyLT-e1vhpy-pctrc5-cYEhsJ-9V2LYh-4J8UfC-2A1d6Y-p2uQCB-4fr8L6-d3mhA3-grEjT8-9WF1pH-dPUWSC-CFjX-6y2gJY">Chris Jones/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world of anti doping in sport sometimes feels like a battle between opposing forces on the same side. The debate has become polarised between those advocating zero tolerance and those who want to accept performance enhancement as a reality to be managed.</p>
<p>The latest leak claiming to reveal the banned substances cleared by sporting authorities for use on medical grounds <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/15/chris-froome-and-bradley-wiggins-targeted-in-wada-hacking-scandal">by top athletes</a> might offer us one route to a middle way in all this. Perhaps total transparency about these so-called therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) might work?</p>
<p>The past few months have witnessed a glut of scandals reminiscent of the crises of the 1990s that led to the <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/who-we-are">creation of the World Anti Doping Authority (WADA)</a> in 1999. The increasing suspicion is that doping cannot be controlled and the organisations in charge have too many conflicts and vested interests. </p>
<p>The leaked information on alleged TUEs only serves to highlight how common it is for athletes and their doctors to request drugs that might enhance performance or aid recovery on the basis of medical conditions. The idealised level playing field is still a myth. There are of course entirely legitimate reasons for competitors to take the treatments they need and to get clearance to do so. No individual athlete can be assumed to have done anything wrong and there is no suggestion of that in the new leak. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137933/original/image-20160915-30619-o0kh2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137933/original/image-20160915-30619-o0kh2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137933/original/image-20160915-30619-o0kh2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137933/original/image-20160915-30619-o0kh2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137933/original/image-20160915-30619-o0kh2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137933/original/image-20160915-30619-o0kh2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137933/original/image-20160915-30619-o0kh2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137933/original/image-20160915-30619-o0kh2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Optimising the human.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-423492955/stock-photo-doctor-oversees-the-endurance-test-of-athlete.html?src=jOUuHsQOX7uBwKAqPP1U9Q-1-75">Photographee.eu/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, the TUE system could be gamed by opportunistic and unscrupulous teams or athletes as a means to “legally” dope. A less obvious, but still urgent problem, faces those athletes who haven’t had enough anti-doping education or do not have sports medicine support who test positive for drugs they simply did not know were banned. The system can be irrationally punitive. </p>
<h2>Battle lines</h2>
<p>Anti-doping’s two schools of thought make a solution sometimes look impossible. First, we have the claims that sport should be clean and that we need a tougher regime in order to get to that outcome. We might define this as a law and order mentality. Supporters argue that deterrence only comes from meaningful sanctions. That might include <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/21/sport/russia-doping-ban-rio-2016-olympic-games/">banning whole countries</a> or sports from international competitions, or even criminalisation using the justice system to imprison those who commit doping “crimes”. In this view, the global leaders simply need to exercise more power.</p>
<p>Yet this does not really tackle the embedded attitudes that lead to doping. Sport is an opportunity for financial gain: for athletes, coaches, doctors, administrators. The motivational impulses point towards the search for performance enhancement, both legal and illegal. This is the nature of sport in a commercialised world. It does not solve the problem of athletes being able to beat the system through micro-dosing, avoiding the testers, using new and undetectable drugs, and the corrupt behaviour of officials in covering up positives. Nor does it address the potential abuse of the TUE process.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137935/original/image-20160915-30617-gmz9dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137935/original/image-20160915-30617-gmz9dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137935/original/image-20160915-30617-gmz9dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137935/original/image-20160915-30617-gmz9dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137935/original/image-20160915-30617-gmz9dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137935/original/image-20160915-30617-gmz9dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137935/original/image-20160915-30617-gmz9dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137935/original/image-20160915-30617-gmz9dz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Testing times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/azso/3610705965/in/photolist-6v4P68-dgLicC-h65GBk-8KjLfJ-4TLNLP-87DbTP-9NJhg3-9NJdLE-9NJfwE-aPr7pM-aPrxkv-aPrRZz-aPrpt4-aPrvPV-nCk13Q-eVpkrD-aPrdVt-aPrtLr-aPrnKB-aPruC6-aPrm6t-aProDk-aPrENe-aPrfsM-aPrmX6-fSmJne-PJSDX-aPreAR-66w5A6-aPrNyF-aPrLNv-aPrsGT-aPrrMR-aPrgdp-aPrSWg-aPrCg6-aPrqBT-aPrhvZ-aPrJ8z-aPrQuF-aPrBjH-aPrict-aPrJZv-aPrKSt-aPrFST-aPrGZ4-aPriTD-aPrDF2-bWNx49-aPrgTc">Zsolt Andrasi/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second and opposing school of thought is that we should redefine clean sport and accept that performance enhancement is a part of sport. This includes arguments that all drugs should be allowed, and that genetic manipulation should be, too. A lighter version of the same position is that athletes can use drugs under medical supervision.</p>
<h2>Middle lane</h2>
<p>Neither of these are good solutions. An absolutist approach leads to unintended consequences: punishments handed out to athletes who are innocent or who have done very little wrong. It requires huge investment and excessive surveillance of all athletes. It can also lead to sanctions of non-elite athletes as doping controls get extended into localised competitions. Such athletes often don’t have enough anti-doping education but it is highly questionable if the rules for professionals should be imposed on amateurs. Mounting an appeal is costly and difficult under <a href="https://www.wada-ama.org/en/questions-answers/strict-liability-in-anti-doping">the strict liability rule</a>. In other words, we risk unfair and disproportionate outcomes. </p>
<p>However, the liberalisation approach is quite simply not palatable for sports organisations, sponsors, and the media. The public perception seems to be that sport should be drug-free. Any loosening on the grip of anti-doping provokes fears that all athletes will feel compelled to dope, including young people just at the beginning of their careers. It is also seen as undermining the health and ethical virtues of sport. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137938/original/image-20160915-30617-24koqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137938/original/image-20160915-30617-24koqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137938/original/image-20160915-30617-24koqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137938/original/image-20160915-30617-24koqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137938/original/image-20160915-30617-24koqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137938/original/image-20160915-30617-24koqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137938/original/image-20160915-30617-24koqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137938/original/image-20160915-30617-24koqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harsh treatment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/124963567@N02/14334518830/in/photolist-nQGa3o-kDwgsV-kDzBmV-kDDmom-8xJcMB-dEQpbD-kDsf5c-akG7b9-bzLWBv-KM8Kp-ahaDwr-pZJ8XG-5tenR9-kDwHyR-kDtRkD-6jvhYG-4X3s2e-kDDft5-kD8Kc7-8rt4dW-nwzu2Y-nQRrDz-6Z6Uhq-9Ey5wZ-9Ey5va-bUo4ZY-fjGUT2-kDvrCr-9e3XKn-5NsxX1-5NsxEC-acdFXt-s8oBcu-5NsxuS-pFA4yP-acfcTZ-5ihecv-9EbLp7-9BsvEX-5JGsS-9mU5Y9-a1WZDm-in25L-bcQMYT-5PZPcz-q2zgAK-dyWeiJ-gfVgcQ-85VtnY-8EqjDk">houstondwiPhotos mp/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Frankly, the debate is so polarised that it might be tempting to give up. But we need some some sense of rationality and perspective to <a href="https://theconversation.com/seven-steps-to-reboot-the-fight-against-doping-in-sport-61587">map out a middle ground</a>. This might emphasise integrity in sporting cultures, put the athlete at the centre of the policy process, and direct resources to the most important doping issues. Yet, there is no platform for this debate, and no mechanism for re-orienting the direction of travel WADA has pursued since it was formed. The only real solution is a multi-stakeholder, open and transparent debate that comes to conclusions that WADA is obliged to accept and deliver. </p>
<p>The extensive debate on TUEs which this week’s news will reignite might accidentally provide a focal point for new options. If it was more transparent, we would know the drugs athletes used and why. Doctors and coaches would be made more accountable for the requests they make. Sports organisations would have more knowledge and control over what was being used. </p>
<p>Of course, the significant challenge is that this approach adds another layer to the already extensive surveillance of athletes: their bodies would be more public, and their privacy diminished further. However, the current crisis over TUEs neatly symbolises the ambivalences, problems and challenges facing WADA, as they aim to keep sport clean in an world that increasingly normalises medical drug use and enhancement therapies. Sport might be different to the rest of society, but athletes want to win and sometimes will use any method available to them. This unwinnable war needs a fresh approach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dimeo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new Russian hack has claimed to reveal the details of so-called therapeutic use exemptions. But could transparency in this area be a benchmark for the fight against drugs in sport?Paul Dimeo, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.